Why Me?
by Marcus Galen Sands
Summary: Alex didn't expect this. It was absurd, impossible, crazy, and yet it was happening. Finding himself as the new Familiar of a character from an anime was not something that he'd ever expected to happen. Still if he's going to have to do it then he'll damned well do a good job. Still, he really wants to know, 'Why me'. OC Warning, though i'm trying to do it well.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**The various fictional worlds, characters and elements that are written about in this fanfiction belong to their various creators, who I'm too lazy to list. This is purely a fan work and not intended to generate any sort of profit. I know that if it does a fair number of bloodthirsty lawyers are likely to make my life miserable. As always constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored.**

**Well here's my new fic, I'm honestly not sure if it will be a single chapter thing or if I may pursue it further in the future, but for now God Slaying Blade Works remains my primary work. This is just something to do on the side when I find myself suffering from a little writer's block.**

**Now, let me be quite clear that Alex is NOT a self insertion, though I freely admit that a fair number of my own characteristics may rub off on him. I might wish I was more than six feet tall and packing on the muscle, but the truth is I'm a rather average five foot nine and only go to the gym often enough to be only slightly overweight rather than fat. **

**Alex is an original character that I originally made for another fanfiction I wrote nearly ten years ago. Back then since I lacked regular access to a computer, and used what access I had to read as much fanfiction as I could, I wrote all my stories down on paper. I never really finished any of them and looking back now most of them were almost painfully bad, but I ended up writing more that thirty of them. Some more than two hundred pages long others no more than half a page. I'm actually drawing on a number of those old fics for some of the elements that I'll be using in this story.**

**Alex was originally from a Slayers/Sailor Moon crossover that ran for about eighty pages. Looking back on it it was almost painfully clichéd in some places and the dialog as wooden as an old mannequin. However the main character was one I liked and it was while reading my old stuff a couple of weeks back that I remembered how much I liked writing him. The character himself had a certain over the topness that struck me as being similar to Rider from Fate Zero, though I freely admit he was nowhere near as awesome.**

**It was a couple of days later, after rereading Ten-Faced Paladin's Familiar of ZerOOO that I got the idea of writing my own original character into one of my favourite series. Alex has been updated to match my new favoured anime and series.**

**People will probably notice that I'm drawing more on the Light Novels than the anime. This is because I prefer the novels, in the anime it was as though Saito was a largely spineless weenie with a lecherous steak a mile wide. His novel counterpart might have been lecherous and rather stupid on occasion, but not on the overly exaggerated level of his anime version.**

**I freely admit that this fic is influenced by the works of a number of other people such as Gabriel Blessing and Ten-Faced Paladin. If either of them read this work I hope they enjoy it and aren't offended that I used their own works as inspiration.**

**Some people will have noticed that I've altered the height of some of the characters from Familiar of Zero. This is because when I was checking what the 'official' stats were for some of the characters I noticed a few discrepancies. For one thing according to those stats Louise should actually be a couple of centimetres taller than Siesta, yet in the anime and the novel illustrations show that the maid is a bit taller than the mage. Since I'm going with the impressions that the anime and manga have made on me I won't be using the official stats that I disagree with.**

**Here's the result and I hope you all enjoy it. This is just the first chapter, and the next is about 70% written and so it should be coming out fairly soon.**

**Oh, one last thing. I imagine that quite a few people might state that I'm cooking up a Gary Stu character here. In response I'd like to say that I do have a plan and that Alex will find himself facing more than just the canon enemies.  
**

* * *

**Why Me? Chapter 1: Arrival**

Today was a good day. He was sweaty, overburdened, largely broke and in all truth not entirely sure if some of his impulse purchases had been the brightest idea, but right now he was pretty damned pleased with himself.

His name was Alexander Rivers, though he preferred to be called Alex by those close to him. He was a British university student that had just finished his first year and was enjoying the summer holidays by attending an anime and sci-fi convention in London. That was what led to his current predicament, he was sweaty because of his cosplay costume, overburdened because he was carrying three large bags that were all stuffed and was largely broke because of all the things he'd bought, some of which he still wasn't too sure about.

Alex had been planning this day for months now; it had been the big event of his summer holidays. Absentee parents who confused money with affection had ensured that he hadn't been lacking in funds, and he'd supplemented that with the money he'd earned from a couple of part time evening jobs. Some of that had gone into the handmade costume he was wearing, but most had been kept in reserve to go on a spending spree, hence the three bags.

Of course one of those bags wasn't of his stuff. When some of his friends had found out about his plans they'd placed some orders with some of the stalls at the con and had asked him to pick them up for them. At the time he hadn't minded, it was an easy enough favour to do, and he had a policy of treating others as he would like them to treat him in return. Granted it was a bit inconvenient lugging another bag around, but he was a big guy and in damned good shape, so hadn't been much of a problem.

Alex had always been large for his age, the sort of build that was tall, broad and stocky, and he'd learnt early on that that kind of physique lent itself either to fat or to muscle, not anywhere in between as far as he was concerned. Fortunately his home had only been a few minutes walk from the local sports centre, not a particularly extravagant place, but they'd had all the right equipment and the staff had been attentive and helpful. Regular workouts had ensured that he'd stayed in good shape, and right now it was paying off.

As he stepped out of the con and onto the street he set his bags down and tugged at the furred lining of his costume. The thing was that while the rest of his costume was both cool and comfortable the mantle was fairly heavy and hot, especially now that he was out in the sun. Honestly, when people thought of English weather they probably thought of wind and rain, they forgot that come summer the British Isles could enjoy some pretty scorching days.

The problem with him doing cosplay was that he lacked the right build to pull off his favoured characters. Standing at six feet and four inches tall and built to look like he could wrestle gorillas meant he was a poor choice to play the part of Lelouch Lamperouge or Cloud Strife. As a result with his red hair and large frame there weren't that many characters that he liked that he could play. Sure it wasn't impossible to find a decent subject to dress as, last year he'd come as the Nemesis from Resident Evil, in fact he'd bought some additional touches for that costume today.

However it had only been with the release of Fate Zero that he'd found the subject for his best effort to date.

Rider was seemingly tailor-made for Alex to cosplay as, and on top of that he was simply an **awesome** character, one that he enjoyed watching immensely.

So for the last few months Alex had patiently used a combination of sewing and leather work to make the best cosplay of the King of Conquerors that he could. He'd even grown a real beard for the first time in his life and cut it to match the fictional characters and marking a few fake scars onto his skin where needed.

Of course he hadn't been a perfect match, he'd lacked Rider's flattened beak of a nose, his eyes were grey rather than red and he was more than two thirds of a foot short of matching the correct 'official' height. Still all in all he was very pleased with the results of his work. It had been a real pleasure to run into another fellow who was wearing one of those purchased online pre-made cosplays of Rider. The sheer difference in the quality of their costumes had been blatantly obvious.

He hadn't managed to get first place in the cosplay competition, that honour had gone to a young lady that had dressed as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII-2, but he supposed second place wasn't that bad.

Well, no more time for reminiscing, he was loaded down with models, costumes, costume props, manga books, anime box sets and various other odds and ends. Right now he'd best be heading back to Charing Cross train station if he wanted to catch his train home. Once he was on board he could enjoy looking through his purchases at a more leisurely pace.

Nodding to himself the large teen picked up his bags, turned . . . and stopped as he found himself facing a large floating green ovoid.

Okay, this was unexpected. The thing looked vaguely familiar, but Alex couldn't quite place it in his mind. Was it some sort of recreation? Earlier he'd seen some guy cart in a full sized cardboard and plaster recreation of the Gate of Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist, could this be something similar?

Stepping closer he saw that it was actually hovering off the ground, and as far as he could see there weren't any strings or anything of the like keeping it suspended. Was it some sort of holographic trick? That was the only explanation he could think of. But if that was the case then why was it that nobody else seemed to be paying it any attention? Something as cool and realistic as this should have gathered its own admiring crowd by now, yet instead people were simply walking by it without paying it any attention.

Stepping closer he tried to peer through it, but found to his surprise that it wasn't see through as he had expected, instead its translucence was murky to the point where nothing save vague hints came through it. Very tentatively he reached out to touch it.

"Oh, 'xcuse me."

The casual words were the only warning Alex got before someone bumped into him from behind. It wasn't a very hard bump; under normal circumstances it wouldn't even have moved him. The problem was that he was unbalanced since he was leaning over, and was further unbalanced by carrying three heavy bags full of stuff. All these factors contributed to a single result.

Alex Rivers stumbled forwards one step.

Right into the glowing green ovoid.

He had just enough time to utter an exclamation of irritation before he felt as though something inside the thing had grabbed onto the foot and shoulder that had entered the ovoid. At that point the irritation in his voice turned into a yelp of fear that was cut off as he was pulled into the green light.

Then there was an explosion.

* * *

-()-

* * *

"Who are you?" the girl's voice broke through Alex's dazed confusion and brought him back to the world of the fully conscious.

He blinked as his eyes focused on the figure before him. As his senses cleared the vague blur resolved itself into a small girl, one with reddish-brown eyes, fair skin and . . . Huh? Was her hair blonde with actual **pink** highlights or was it pink with blonde highlights? Hang on, never mind that, why was it pink in the first place?

Oh, wait, she was asking who he was, did she mean who he was dressed up as?

"Iskander from Fate Zero, Rider of the Fourth Holy Grail War."

Damn, his head was killing him. The only time it had ever felt worse than this was the day after his elder sister's wedding when he'd overindulged in the wine and brandy. He'd subsequently woken up the next morning lying in a bathtub that was half full of setting lime jello and suffering from a massive hangover. Still he managed to get the answer out in a semi-coherent form.

There was some whispering now, and his head was starting to settle down enough that he could make it out.

"A soldier in a holy war?"

"Iskander, that's a foreign name for sure."

"Just look at him, he's far too finely dressed to be a-"

"He's so big, do you think-"

The chatter started to blur together and make his headache worse. With a shake of his head Alex let go of the bags that he'd been holding onto with a death grip and stood up.

For some reason the simple act of getting to his feet helped clear his head. The pounding in it quickly died down to nothing more than a dull throbbing, nothing worse than one might expect from a night with too little sleep.

All about him were young men and women in what looked like school uniforms with capes and broaches at the throats with pentacles on them. For some reason they looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place them right now. However that thought was brushed aside as he stared at what was beside the students.

A giant mole, some sort of enormous lizard with its tail on fire, was that a **dragon**? And there was the only adult present, some half bald fellow in robes and carrying a staff. It was all hinting at something, something that he just couldn't quite put his finger on.

"He doesn't have a staff or a wand. He must be a commoner."

"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?" someone asked, and everyone but the girl who was looking up at his face started to laugh.

"I... I just made a little mistake!" her face was flushed now and . . . were those barely suppressed tears at the corners of her eyes?

"What mistake are you talking about? Nothing unusual happened."

"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!" Someone else said, and the crowd burst into laughter again.

Louise the Zero.

Oh.

Oh boy.

As in Louise the Zero from the anime 'Familiar of Zero'? With eyes beginning to widen in shock he stared about himself once more. Yes there was a blonde boy with a frilly shirt standing beside a giant mole. There was a tanned and red haired beauty with a scandalously unbuttoned blouse showing off some extremely impressive cleavage with the fire lizard next to her. And over by the blue dragon more than five times his own height was a small and cute girl with red glasses reading a book.

Guiche, Kriche and Tabitha, which made the girl in front of him Louise Fran-something or other Vallière.

He was in an anime?

The people in front of him didn't look like drawn characters, they all seemed like normal people to him, no exaggeratedly large eyes, no black outlines.

"Mr. Colbert!"

Her sudden shout brought him out of his thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

"What is it that you want from me, Miss Vallière?"

"Please! Let me try the summoning one more time!" there was a definite note of desperation in her voice now.

"I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."

"Why not?"

"It is strictly forbidden. When you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, which is what you just did. Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it because the 'Springtime Familiar Summoning' is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to take him."

"But . . . I've never heard of having a commoner as a familiar!"

Alex's thoughts were racing at this point. This was real, this was really happening to him. He'd watched the anime and read a few of the translated Light Novels, but the series hadn't been his favourite. Fate/Stay Night, now there was a series that he knew inside out. This one he only had a passing familiarity with.

Good God, what was he thinking?! This had to be some sort of dream.

With fingers that felt as though they wanted to tremble he reached down and pinched the skin on his bare forearm. Ouch, that had definitely hurt.

Which-which meant that this was real.

As he paid only half an ear to the words of those around him he tried to remember what was happening. This seemed to be at the beginning of the series, so . . . he'd been summoned instead of the main character? Then that meant that soon she was going to kiss him and that would make him her familiar.

He-he could run. He wasn't too far from the gate, if he was quick he could get out of here before they could drag him into their story and then . . .

And then what?

If he remembered right it was possible for him to return to his own world by flying into an eclipse. The only problem with that was that the only thing that could do that was an antique plane whose location he only had the vaguest idea of. Added to that was the simple fact that he couldn't fly it, not without the runes that he'd get as Louise's familiar.

And there was the simple butterfly effect. If he didn't become her familiar then she'd probably end up either disinherited or the wife of that traitorous fiancée of hers, Wards or something like that. If that jerk ended up being the one to reveal to her that her Element was Void then there was a big chance he might be able to sway her to his side, either by persuasion or by magic mind control. That was if she didn't get killed by that thief woman who used golems. And in the long term that would mean the bad guys would win and what's-his-name, Tabitha's evil uncle, would probably end up either conquering or killing everyone in his lunatic bid to reawaken his emotions.

But-but did that really matter? These weren't **real **people; they were just characters in an anime. Except-except that they were here, they were moving around him and they certainly didn't look like drawings. They looked real, like real people that hurt and bled when they were injured. Ahhh, what was he supposed to think?

Alex controlled his breathing which was starting to speed up on him. Okay, calm down, think about this rationally.

What was the best path available to him?

If he ran things would probably be a bit hard, but he was pretty sure he'd be able to get by, especially with his knowledge of future technology and agriculture.

On the other hand just how applicable would the knowledge of how to create gunpowder and such things as a primitive clothe mill be in a world with magic? He couldn't remember the exact tech level that the commoners had had in the anime, but he seemed to remember that cannons had been featured. Or had those been magical weapons of some sort? Blast it all, why did he have to be dropped into one of the anime that he'd only been mildly interested in? If this had been Bleach then he'd have known exactly what he was dealing with.

"Well then, continue with the ceremony."

That cut through his slightly off the-path train of thought. Continue the ceremony, which meant that she'd do the spell to seal him as her familiar. Alex's muscles tensed as the primitive fight or flight impulse screamed in his veins. Unfortunately neither option was of much use when he thought about it.

The simple truth was that he needed the power up that came with being her familiar. Being the . . . what was it called again? The Gandalf? Well, being her familiar would at least ensure that he'd have at least some power. In the anime Saito had been able to use that power to face whole armies at a time. Alex wasn't too sure what he was going to do, but if he wanted to survive in this . . . this fantasy world then he was going to need some power of his own.

"With **him**?"

"Yes, with him. Hurry. The next class will begin any minute. How much more time is this summoning going to take? After mistake upon mistake, you have finally managed to summon him. Hurry up and form a contract."

With an expression of disappointment and bitterness the pink haired girl turned to face Alex . . . and found herself facing the bottom of his ribcage. With a sudden squeak of surprise Louise took a step back and looked up at the red haired young man that was now towering over her.

Okay, if he was going to act as her familiar then he was going to do it **his **way. The Saito in the anime may have acted like a blithering idiot half the time, but Alex had no intention of putting up with half the stuff, he certainly wasn't going to play the part of the doormat.

The question was how to set the tone right, he needed something . . .

Ah.

"By your summons I have come forth. Now young girl I ask you, are you my Summoner?"

All hail Fate/Stay Night, he might be paraphrasing, but he certainly didn't want to give the future Void user the wrong idea by calling her Master. Aside from that though Saber's first words to Shirou had just the right kind of gravitas to serve in this situation.

"Y-Yes, I-I summoned you as my Familiar."

The young girl's words were hesitant, but he could now hear a note of hope in them. Now what could he say by answer.

"Very well, I shall be your sword and shield and you shall be my wand and staff. By the name of Bahamut's wings and Sephiroth's sword complete the ritual and grant me my Class."

Oh-Kay, maybe that had been just a bit over the top, drawing inspiration from Negima and Final Fantasy. Still he'd managed to make it sound grandiose and mystical enough that it might seem a bit more 'official' to both his Summoner and the other students. If he remembered right a number of the problems that Saito had had to deal with at the start of the series had been people not taking him seriously. With any luck this might avoid that for him.

"Ah . . . right. My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being and make him my familiar."

As she said the words she tapped his chest with a wand that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Harry Potter film. Then she looked up at him and frowned.

"Hey, Iskander wasn't it? Kneel down now."

Oh? So she thought his name was Iskander? Well given how he'd said that earlier he supposed he could understand that. He could always correct her later though; right now he had to go with the flow.

Lowering himself to one knee he found he was more or less face to face with the small girl. Now that he could get a good look at her he was surprised by just how fragile she seemed. Her slim build and slight figure almost made her seem doll-like. Was this the girl upon whom the fate of this world turned? It seemed so ridiculous.

Alex was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by the soft sensation of her lips on his. Jerking back in surprise he couldn't believe that he'd become so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed her leaning in. It had been his plan to turn his head at the last instant so that the kiss would be a kiss on the cheek rather than the mouth. Such an action would have hopefully helped set the tone for their future partnership.

"It is done."

"Did you need to seal the pact with a kiss little lady?" the words came out almost of their own accord even as a slight blush spread over his face. And given some of the things Alex had gotten up to with his ex-girlfriend that innocent little kiss was making him flush a good deal more than it should have done.

"Sh-Shut up you big ox, y-you should feel honoured."

"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try." The Colbert teacher declared happily.

"It's just because he's some foreign barbarian commoner."

"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."

Some of the students laughed causing Louise to round on them and scowl.

"Don't make fun of me! Even I do things right once in a while!"

"Truly 'once in a while', Louise the Zero." Laughed a girl with curly blonde hair and freckles on her face. If he remembered right then she was one of the main supporting cast, though for the life in him he couldn't remember her name.

"Mr. Colbert! Montmorency The Flood just insulted me!"

"Who are you calling 'The Flood'? I'm Montmorency the Fragrance!"

"I heard that you used to wet the bed like a flood, didn't you? 'The Flood' suits you better!"

"I hadn't expected better manners from Louise the Zero."

"Watch it! Nobles ought to show each other the proper respect." The middle-aged wizard interjected.

Alex was watching all of this with mild amusement when the pain hit.

Damn, that was another thing he'd forgotten, when the runes appeared on Saito's left hand they had been literally burnt on. Right now his whole body was burning as though he suffered from an intense fever, he swayed slightly and was thankful that he was already kneeling or else he might well have fallen over. As he braced himself against the pain he blearily opened his eyes and saw that stream seemed to be rising from his body.

"Girl, you're not making this easy." Alex spoke the words through gritted teeth as the heat within him increased.

"It will be over soon; just wait. The Familiar's Runes are being inscribed."

That was odd, Louise didn't sound dismissive or irritated like she had in the anime, instead she sounded more neutral. Heh, looked like he might be having some effect on events already.

The pain was receding from the rest of his body and now seemed to be focusing solely on the back of his left hand. The red haired young man tried his best to endure the pain without complaint, but as the foreign letters were literally burnt into his skin with a smell of cooking meat he couldn't help but let out a moan through his gritted teeth.

Little by little the pain faded and the marks that looked like Celtic letters ceased to glow and became thin but clear lines on the back of his hand.

"Hmmm... These are very unusual Runes,"

Ah, Alex remembered this. That Colbert fellow had been the first to work out that Saito wasn't just some random accident and that the Runes he wore were the rarest kind.

"Well, let's go back to class, everyone."

Alex watched as several of the students floated off into the air, some of them calling back mockingly to Louise about how she should walk back, how she couldn't levitate and how a commoner was a perfect familiar for her.

Right, that meant that he was now officially caught up in the story as it were. He'd have to be careful, if he remembered correctly there had been something in both the anime and novels about how the familiar mark affected the mind of the one it was placed upon. Still Saito had been able to function through it, if he could then Alex was sure that he could manage it too.

"Who are you?"

The question brought him back to the situation at hand as he looked down at the short pink haired girl before him. Her face was . . . Actually he wasn't quite sure what that expression was. There were elements of irritation, frustration and hope there from what he could see.

"This is a poor place for us to discuss future plans. I trust that you've got a more private location available?"

"Th-there's my room."

"Excellent, that should do nicely. Please lead the way my Summoner."

Thank you three years of drama school. Alright, granted he might never have been talented enough for the big stage, but those lessons in ad libbing were certainly proving their worth. With any luck this should grant him a little more time to work with and to get things set up in his mind for how he was going to introduce himself to the young girl that was the point on which the world turned.

So, no pressure.

Leaning down the burly red head picked up his bags as Louise started to walk towards the school's main building. As he did so he heard the clink of metal on metal. That made him frown, he hadn't bought anything made of metal apart from a few props, certainly not enough to make that kind of note. Also, now that he thought about it, these bags felt heavier than they had before, much heavier. Yet at the same time he didn't have any trouble picking them up, it was as though he could tell that they were heavier but that new weight wasn't affecting his ability to lift it.

"What are you waiting for?"

With a nod of his head and a mental note to check his bags later Alex followed after the pink haired girl.

-()-

"So, you're my familiar then? Well at least you look like a strong commoner, so you might be able to beat some of the more mundane familiars. Heh, you could step on the Flood's frog at least."

Alex stood before his new Summoner as she sat on her bed and looked at him. He'd decided to forego the whole business of claiming to be from another world and being confused about being a familiar. Unlike Saito he had at least some idea of what was going on and was trying to make a decent first impression on his Summoner. By the sounds of what she was mumbling to herself she was at least a little happier with him than she would have been with the original main character. He supposed that was understandable, Saito had been a rather average guy while Alex could in all modesty say that he looked like he could wrestle with bulls in a pinch.

"Well then my Summoner, I suppose it's time to hash out the details of our partnership."

"Partnership?" the girl's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him, "You are my familiar and I am your master. Consider yourself honoured; being my familiar is something a commoner like yourself would normally never be able to aspire to. Even being the personal servant of a noble would be the highest that you could hope for. I will tell you what to do and you will obey, that's the relation between a familiar and its master."

Alright, this was a critical moment. This was the point where Louise would make her own views felt and where he could refute them and set the tone of their relationship from now on.

"Wrong."

He said the single word with calm finality and as much gravity as he could heap upon it.

"Wh-What?! How dare you speak back like that?! The duty of a familiar is to-"

"Is to obey? To be a devoted servant and dog?" Alex cut her off while emphasising his words with a slashing gesture of his right arm. "Wrong girl, completely wrong! That is what you can expect if you summon up some common beast. If you are very fortunate you may get a powerful breed with intelligence of its own that will give loyalty as well as subservience. But you have not called up some animal, you have summoned one of your fellow humans, and we are a race more wilful and stubborn than any other on the face of this or any other world!"

He was actually impressed with himself that he'd managed to get that all out without stumbling over his words even once. Still he had to keep going while he had momentum.

"Unlike a bird or a wolf I will not be kept at your heel or on your shoulder, if that is what you're expecting then you'd best think again. You sought a powerful familiar and you got me, now I suggest that you adapt to it rather than trying to force it to adapt to you."

The young magic user simply gaped at him for a moment her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Then her face flushed with anger and her face creased with outrage.

"You-you commoner . . . How dare you speak to me like that?! Know your place!"

Eyes flashing she grabbed her wand from where it had been on the bed beside her and started to point it at the red haired young man.

"If you use magic on me then I'll just walk right out of here and that will be the last you'll see of me." Alex's calm statement froze her in mid-motion. "I shall leave and then you will have no summon, no familiar. How will that suit you? If what I saw earlier is anything to go by then your classmates will be less than kind if they learn you have driven off your own Summon."

"Y-You can't leave, you're my familiar! You can't just leave!"

The last sentence was almost wailed as tears started to bead at the corners of her eyes.

"Girl . . . Louise . . . you called and now I'm here, but I'll not be anyone's dog. You'll find that I'm not something or someone to be dismissed, but if you cling to this desire to treat me as a pet or a beast of burden then my own pride will not let me simply stand for it."

He paused for a moment both to look at her and to try to get the words straight in his mind, then spoke in a kinder tone.

"This partnership can work, I've heard of great sages in the past having summoned humans to work with them, and I'm sure that we can achieve something similar. As I said, I shall be your sword and shield and you shall be my wand and staff, that combination has worked well in the past and shall serve well in the future, surely as well it can work for us."

"Other mages have summoned human familiars?" Louise's voice was calmer now, curious and hopeful.

Inside his head Alex grinned nervously as he began operation 'Creative Interpretation of the Truth'.

"I've never met any of them myself, but their names and deeds are famous and I'm sure they're every bit as real as you are." He took a breath as he thought of how truthful and misleading that last comment was. "Let me see . . . there was the sorceress Lina Inverse, she was accompanied by the swordsman Gourry Gabriev. There was the Knight of Zero Suzaku who served the Emperor Lelouch. Both of them were able to achieve great things with their allies.

"Unfortunately it doesn't always work out, Diarmuid of the Love Spot was an excellent knight, but his Summoner Lord Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi squandered his loyalty and abilities. It ended quite disastrously for them."

Alright he was drawing on various anime and manga, but the examples were still more or less valid. They were certainly every bit as real as he knew the girl herself to be.

This-This wasn't going as well as he hoped it would. She was being every bit as obstinate and prideful as he had feared she might be. Alex considered himself to be a pretty even tempered guy, but even he had his limits and the way that she was talking to him to start with had really sparked his temper. Right now things seemed to be going okay, but maybe it was time to beat a strategic retreat so he could evaluate his options a bit better.

"Tell you what little Lady, what say I go find myself something to eat and a place to bunk down for the night while you take some time alone to think things over and cool your head a bit? Tomorrow, once we've both had a bit more time to think things over, we can try to hash out the details."

He didn't wait for her to answer; instead he simply picked up his bags, opened the door to the room and stepped out all in a single motion. He didn't hear any shouts or demands, so he guessed that she agreed with him enough not to cause a fuss, at least for the time being anyway.

Glancing out of one of the corridor's windows he saw that the sun was currently setting. Time really had flown by since the summoning ceremony, but despite his words he wasn't hungry just yet. Instead he set out to find an empty classroom or something of the like in which he could take a few minutes to take stock of the situation.

That didn't take too long; soon he found a large empty room with a number of long desks in it. He had no idea what kinds of lessons were taught here, but that wasn't important right now. As he sat down he remembered how Louise had turned the lamps on in her room, just a simple snap of the fingers. It stood to reason that it couldn't just be the mages that could do so, otherwise one would always have to be accompanying the servant when they did their night duties. This theory was proven to be correct when he clicked his own fingers and the lamps lit themselves.

He took a moment to play with that particular feature, snapping his fingers again and again to turn the lights on and off. However even as he was doing so his mind began to drift to thinking over all that he could remember about the series 'Familiar of Zero'.

He was fairly familiar with the first few books of the Light Novels as well as the first couple of series. It was after that that he'd lost interest. He was fairly sure that he could remember all of the major plot points of the events up to Saito supposedly dying in that big battle on Albion. It was after that though that the anime and novels diverged somewhat and he'd disliked the second season's sharp ending, which had soured him to watching the rest. Granted he'd picked up a bit more by reading some fanfiction on the internet, but after that he was less than sure of what happened aside from a few specifics such as Tabitha being kidnapped and the mad king of Gallia starting his lunatic invasion.

He'd have to deal with those when it came to those points. For that matter he wasn't planning on following Saito's example of taking on an entire army on his own. From what he could remember of the anime and the books the attacking army had been in rather rudimentary formations and groupings. If he had just a hundred men of his own with some fast mounts, or even better dragons, then he could easily break them as well as take out a fair chunk of the chain of command. Why with just two correctly employed mages he could-

Alex blinked in surprise as he realized that he was just planning a battlefield in his mind where a numerically inferior but better led force could conceivably defeat a much larger foe. And this was a big shock because in all honesty the university student couldn't even play chess worth a damn to save his life.

So why the hell was he suddenly thinking in terms of advanced military strategies?

Slowly he picked up one of his bags from where it was resting on one of the tables. Yes it definitely felt heavier, but at the same time it was as easy to lift as though it were filled with nothing but packing chips. Looking to his side Alex leaned over and effortlessly picked up one of the chairs that the students used. The legs were made of wood at least a couple of inches think, and when he tapped them the note was solid and sturdy. This was a piece of furniture designed to survive most of the mishaps that were to be expected from those studying magic.

And yet when he jerked the leg it came apart in his hands as easily as if it had been made out of cheap softwood.

His brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at the broken chair leg in his hand. This wasn't in the original story, as far as he could remember Saito only gained enhanced powers when he was using a weapon, the rest of the time he was just a normal guy. Sure Alex might be a bigger and stronger guy than the original character had been, but this was far beyond that.

A thought struck him and he began to examine the clothing that he was wearing. Examination showed that the materials making it up had undergone some sort of metamorphosis. The synthetic fabrics had become some sort of thicker woven cloth, the fake golden fur that lined his cloak and bracers was now thicker and more 'real', for want of a better term. The leather that he himself had cut and stitched together was also changed; it was harder now, more artfully worked. Rather than _looking_ like armour it now **was** armour.

A quick investigation also showed that the sword at his hip was also no longer a prop. The wood and plastic false blade had become a true metal recreation of the Sword of the Kupriotes that the Rider in Fate Zero had used.

A theory was starting to germinate in his mind, something that he wasn't too sure about but which would explain what seemed to be going on.

With that in mind he turned back to the bags that he'd set on the tables. All three were large bags, the type that were a good metre and a bit long and could hold enough clothes and things to keep one comfortable for a good week or so. Normally one would have been enough for a person, but Alex was a big guy and had had lots of things to pick up. Earlier he'd heard metal in there, but to the best of his knowledge there were only a few small metal items within, the rest being paper, plastic and wood.

Therefore he was entirely justified in his stupefaction when he upended one of the bags and actual **swords **came out.

That bag had been where he'd placed a few props that he'd bought on a whim. The stall that was selling wood and plastic replicas of various weapons from computer games and anime had been getting close to closing and had started selling the last of their stock at reduced prices. Seeing that almost everything there had been reduced to less than half its original price he'd gone just a little crazy on the buying, but in the end he'd been pretty satisfied.

He'd also put in there a few miscellaneous things that he'd bought as well. A couple of toys, some DVDs, a wall scroll, a book. Just various impulse purchases that he'd picked up. Still it was the weapons that held his gaze.

The Revolver Gunblade of Squall, both the crystalline Brotherhood and the blue metal bladed Caladbolg of Tidus, the two lances of Diarmuid from Fate Zero. He'd bought them as simple props, but now they were all inexplicably **real **having undergone the same transformation as the costume he wore. Real metal, real crystal, real wood. His eyes tracked to the other things on the table and his eyes widened further.

What had once been a foot tall Godzilla figure was now more of an idol carved from black stone. The Doctor Who sonic screwdriver he'd gotten was now real metal. The cloth wall scroll was now heavy parchment and its plastic holders were now intricately carved wood. The same had happened to all his other purchases, some had adapted to take on a medieval feel while others had simply become the real thing.

Was it the same with the contents of his other bags? He'd picked up several near complete costumes for his friends, could those have been changed as well? And what about the manga he'd purchased, might they have undergone a similar transformation?

Almost without thinking he reached out to grasp the hilt of the Gunblade. Final Fantasy 8 had been a game he'd quite enjoyed, so the chance to hold the game's iconic weapon . . .

But before his hand could touch it something happened.

One of his purchases had been a book. The outside of it had been bound in leather and made to appear like some traditional wizard's tome, however all the pages within had been blank. It had looked pretty cool and hadn't been too pricey so Alex had decided to buy it. Now that book had opened on its own and the pages were fluttering as they turned themselves as though in a driving wind. The items and weapons on the table around it started to vibrate, then rattle as though in an earthquake.

The new Gandálfr barely had time to throw himself backwards as the weapons suddenly lifted up into the air and started to spin about as though caught in a miniature tornado. With a sound of ripping cloth his other two bags also exploded and their contents were added to the mass of belongings spinning above the open book.

Then in the next instant it was as though the cyclone that was holding them was being funnelled down **into** the book. Alex watched in astonishment as one by one everything that had been in his bags was sucked up by the rapidly flipping pages. Weapons, manga, anime boxes, figurines, costumes, props, makeup, a novelty alarm clock, his change of clothes, even things like his ipod and a couple of chocolate bars were being pulled in.

As the last item was swallowed by the book the cover slammed shut with an audible snap. He stood there for a moment staring at it, but to his surprise it just sat there as though it was nothing but a totally normal tome. Almost hesitantly he reached out to it, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It did.

As soon as his fingertip made contact with the old-looking leather of the tome there was a blinding flash of light and a sensation rather similar to having grabbed a bare power cable with wet hands. As Alex was sent hurtling backwards he could feel the darkness of unconsciousness beginning to pull him under. His last thought before it claimed him was to note that now it was the back of his right hand that was hurting.


	2. Chapter 2: Learning

**The various fictional worlds, characters and elements that are written about in this fanfiction belong to their various creators, who I'm too lazy to list. This is purely a fan work and not intended to generate any sort of profit. I know that if it does a fair number of bloodthirsty lawyers are likely to make my life miserable. As always constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored.**

**Here's the next chapter, which I hope is as well received as the first.**

**Originally I wrote one big chapter that was meant to run all the way to the duel with Guiche, however after a bit I decided that since this fic is my secondary focus I'd try to make the chapters shorter so it would be easy to update. I'm quite proud of how well God Slaying Blade Works is going, but I do have a tendency to make the chapters too big which results in a slower update rate.**

**Just to be perfectly clear I want to say that this fic is taking place in the Light Novels continuity rather than the anime, though it will be influenced by some aspects of the anime. All in all I was much more impressed by the Novels than I was with the show; it was as though the anime reduced many of the character to caricatures of themselves as well as oversimplifying the plot to make it easier for the general public to consume.**

**SPOILERS.**

**Well this chapter is mainly so that Alex can interact with the various characters of Familiar of Zero as well as gain a bit more insight into his circumstances. **

**In regards to the various items in his book, have no fear. I have a plan that will tie in to my major plot alterations. I'm not going to spoil it just yet, but I am quite pleased with what I came up with.**

**I imagine some people will be wondering just how much I plan to stick to the canon. Well I will initially be staying close for the major points, though Alex does have plans of his own, but as the story progresses . . . well that would be more spoilers. Allow me simply to say that I don't plan to slavishly follow the canon and leave it at that.**

**I imagine people will be asking what other Avatars Alex has; well I've decided that he'll have five in total, including the Rider one. I'll not be revealing what they are, though I did include a few hints in my first chapter. In addition to this he'll have other advantages, but I'll reveal those in later chapters.**

**Now I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Why Me? Chapter Two: Learning**

"Errr . . . Wake up please. Sir, you can't sleep in here."

Alex let out a groan as his eyes fluttered open.

The first thing he noticed was that he ached; in fact he was aching quite a bit. The second thing that his foggy mind latched onto was the fact that his bed felt a good deal harder than he remembered it being.

Hang on a second, he didn't recognize that voice. What was a stranger doing in his room?

With a heave he sat up and looked around him. Huh? Where was this place? Why was there a maid standing next to him and why was he in a class-

Memories of the previous day came flooding back. That was right; he was now in a bloody **anime** of all things. Not only that, it seemed that last night a bloody magical book had stolen all the awesome weapons and tools he'd managed to luck into having, and then to add insult to injury the blasted thing had electrocuted him into unconsciousness. A quick glance around the room showed that the book seemed to have gone missing. Had someone stolen it? Great, just bloody perfect.

"Are you by any chance the one who became Miss Vallière's familiar . . . ?"

"You know of me?" Lost in thoughts of regret and irritation he answered without even looking at the questioner.

"A little. It's become quite a rumour, you know, that a commoner was called by the summoning magic."

There was something familiar about the words used and the voice that spoke them, something that made the world-lost young man look up.

Black Hair, blue eyes, a face that was what he mentally labelled as 'the pretty girl next door', a neat maid's headband and an equally neat uniform. It was strange, she looked like the anime character and yet she didn't look like a drawing at the same time. She was immediately recognizable though, Siesta, one of the main characters of the series and arguably the token 'normal' person.

And if memory served him correctly he shouldn't be meeting her until later if he was following the 'script'.

Rubbing the back of his head to disguise his suddenly racing thoughts he nodded to her.

"That would be me, the little lady summoned me up yesterday as part of the familiar thing her class were doing."

"And she made you sleep in one of the classrooms?" The dark haired maid sounded outraged at the thought.

"That's more my fault than anything else," Alex admitted, "We had something of a disagreement last night and I decided that we both needed a bit of time apart before one of us said something they'd regret once tempers cooled. I came in here to do a bit of thinking and I guess I must have nodded off."

As he said that he let a grin that he knew looked a bit self mocking spread across his face.

"Can you tell me what time it is?" He still had his watch on, he could feel it underneath the large brace he wore, but he didn't know if it was accurate to the present time. That was something he'd have to look into later.

"It's early morning at the moment; the students should be going for breakfast soon so we servants have to clear up the classrooms before their classes begin." Siesta answered as she . . . hovered, for want of a better word, over him.

"Ah, thank you for letting me know that. I'd best be going to wake up my little Summoner; I get the impression that she's the type to sleep in if given the opportunity."

With a grunt Alex heaved himself to his feet, then stretched as he tried to work the kinks out of his muscles. As he did so he heard a muffled 'eep' from the maid that was now standing behind him. After taking a couple of seconds to straighten his armour and cloak he then turned to face her.

He could understand why she'd made that little exclamation of surprise given when standing at his full height he stood nearly a whole foot taller than her. Still she didn't look scared, a tad intimidated maybe, but not scared.

"My thanks for waking me up like this. I imagine that I would have overslept if you hadn't, despite how uncomfortable the floor was."

He made sure to keep his tone and face friendly, after all Siesta had been one of the characters in the anime that he'd liked and found most entertaining, he wanted to make a good first impression. This was spoilt slightly by his stomach choosing that moment to loudly voice the fact that it hadn't been fed for a good long while now.

As its loud and bestial growl finished echoing around the empty classroom Alex could see a smile tugging at the corners of Siesta's lips.

"Alright," he acknowledged, "Maybe I should have seen about getting something to eat before I nodded off."

Another rumble seemed to answer his question with perfect timing. By this point the maid was covering her mouth with her hands in an attempt to stifle the giggles that were escaping her.

"I think that as soon as I've finished rousing my Summoner from her bed I'd best see to getting this beast fed before it starts causing a general disturbance." Alex commented as he turned to the door, "Perhaps we can speak again later when I go get something to eat."

With a nod and a grin to the black haired maid he stepped through the door and out into the corridor beyond.

A quick glance out of the windows confirmed that it was still fairly early in the morning since the sun was only just starting to clear the horizon. Retracing his steps he found himself outside the room in which he had left his pink haired Summoner the day before. As he lightly rapped on the door he idly noticed that even in the privacy of his own thoughts he was thinking of her as his Summoner rather than his Master. That suited him just fine, he was perfectly willing to work with her and protect her, but he'd be damned before he was anyone's slave, no matter the title that was placed on it.

There was no immediate answer to his knock so he tried again, this time with a bit more force, but again there was no reply. With a shrug he turned the door handle and pushed the door open.

The window's curtains were partly opened and the sunlight was illuminating the room. Louise was lying in bed with the bed sheets partly kicked off having apparently had a rather restless night. She was also cuddling her pillow and apparently gnawing on one corner in her sleep. Alex didn't remember any mention of that in any of the versions of the series, but he had to admit it did look pretty adorable.

No, mustn't get suckered by the cuteness. He had to remember that this girl was pretty much the quintessential tsundere, or at least she would have been. Now that he was here he wondered if it would be possible to lead her down a healthier mental road. He knew that she was the main romantic interest of the story, but quite frankly he saw her as more likely becoming a sort of younger sister than a potential romantic partner.

Ah well, those were thoughts for a later time, right now he had to see about getting her out of bed. Reaching out he placed two fingers on her bared shoulder and gently shook her. In response she made a sound vaguely like 'munya' then rolled over and away from his hand. Smiling slightly at her antics the new minted Gandálfr gave her a harder shake.

"Time to rise and shine my little Summoner. Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

"Wh-What? What's going on?" She sleepily questioned as she sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes.

"It's morning, little lady, time to get up and face the day."

"Huh? O-Oh... Wait, who are you?" Louise yelled in a slurred voice. Her expression was vacant as she trailed off into a pitiful mumble.

"I think I'd be safe in saying that you're not really a morning person are you?" Alex commented as he looked down at her in amusement.

"Oh, the familiar. That's right; I summoned you yesterday, didn't I? Ishtander."

"Iskander." Alex corrected automatically, then blinked in surprise as a thought struck him. Ever since he'd arrived here he hadn't given anyone his name, at least not his real one. When asked before he'd still been a bit confused by the summoning and had thought they were asking who he was dressed as and so had claimed to be Iskander the Rider of the fourth Holy Grail War.

"Actually I'm-"

"Clothes." His words were cut off by the simple and direct order that was delivered through a rather unladylike yawn.

Reaching over he passed the uniform that had been draped over a chair to her. Louise then began to sluggishly pull off her lacy pink night shift.

Suddenly a memory sparked in his head and the red haired young man remembered what was going to happen next. No way was he going to fetch her underwear or help her get dressed. Bloody Hell, the girl looked like she was barely fourteen years old.

Crossing the room he grabbed the door handle once more.

"I'll just wait outside until you're finished dressing my Lady." He declared as he let himself out. From behind him came a half awake sound of protest, but he ignored it as he closed the door behind him.

As he waited out in the hall he thought about his name. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone, now that he thought about it, even when he'd been speaking to Siesta he hadn't introduced himself due to being in a hurry. Iskander, that was what Louise thought his name was.

Well . . . he could live with that. It was oddly childish he supposed, but having been dragged into this world against his will and having apparently lost everything he had except for the things he was wearing he felt a desire to have something that was all his own. His name then, he'd keep his name a secret to all save those he chose.

Thinking about all that had happened last night brought back memories of the pain in his right hand. Without really thinking about it he brought the hand up and idly rubbed the back of it where it had burned last night.

A frown crossed his face as his fingers felt something that shouldn't be there. Glancing down he saw that where before the back of his right hand had been smooth there was now something on them. Drawn out on the back of the hand was the image of an open book. It was as though someone had carved the picture into his skin years ago and now the image was picked out in thin raised scars.

That certainly hadn't been there the night before. He glared at it as though by doing so he could force it to reveal its secrets. Right, time to think about this logically, if it wasn't there yesterday then that must mean that he got it last night. And last night the only thing that he'd done involving books had featured a magic book that had eaten everything he owned apart from the things that he'd been wearing. Therefore if logic could be trusted that meant that he had gained this . . . marking due to that book somehow.

This was something new, of that he was completely sure. To the best of his knowledge nothing like this had happened to Saito. So that meant . . .

He stood there and allowed his thoughts to wander as he considered possibilities. In the end he was brought back to the present by the door next to which he was standing opening and a slightly irritated Louise coming out.

"You should have waited," she snapped as she looked up at Alex's tall figure. "As a familiar you should obediently follow my orders and wait until I give them to you."

"Girl," The red haired young man replied, "I've got my sins, but I'm definitely not lustful enough to wait and watch while a child changes her clothes in front of me. If you wait a few years then I'm sure the experience would be a bit more pleasant."

It was rather amusing to watch as Louise's face paled, then flushed, then went purple with rage.

"You-You, how dare you have such thoughts of me. I'll punish you! I'll-"

"Oh? What's this I hear of you punishing someone Louise? I had no idea you had such interests."

The pink haired girl's rant was cut off as the tall and gorgeous red head that Alex knew to be Kirche stepped out of her door and into the corridor. He had to admit that he hadn't gotten a good look at her yesterday, but now that he was closer to her he had to acknowledge that she was a captivating sight. It didn't help at all that she was what he regarded as 'his type', tall, curvaceous, a fellow red head and absolutely sure of herself. The simple fact was that she ticked almost all his little mental boxes

The only problem was that Kirche was perhaps a bit too immodestly dressed for his taste. He had no trouble with a girl that wanted to show off what she had, it was just that a more modestly dressed female was more attractive to him. In the anime the fire mage had doubled as a plot device to provide fan service in addition to being one of the main characters. He'd much preferred her in the Light Novels where her character was fleshed out a bit more.

"Good morning Louise." She greeted the shorter girl with a broad grin.

"Good morning . . . Kirche." The reply was ground out as though it was only through force of will that she could force the words out.

"So then, this is your familiar?"

Alex felt slightly self conscious as the tanned girl's gaze almost blatantly traced the muscles of his bared arms and the red and gold of the mantle he was still wearing.

"That's right."

"Well, you've certainly been able to summon up an interesting familiar, even if he is a commoner. But then I suppose that that's the best we can expect from Louise the Zero."

"Shut up."

"I summoned a familiar yesterday, too. Unlike a certain somebody, I was successful on my first try."

"Really."

"And, if you're going to have a familiar, it should be a good one, like this. Flame!"

Alex had been watching the exchange with a certain degree of interest. He'd noted that while Kirche's words were teasing there was something in their tone that wasn't as cruel as he'd expected. He knew that later in the series the red head was depicted as an ally and friend to the future Void Mage even though their earlier interactions had shown them to be rivals if not enemies. Still it was interesting to see signs of their future friendship so early. If he had to describe it he'd say that her words were meant as playful teasing, she simply couldn't or wouldn't see how they were cutting at Louise.

His thoughts about early main character interactions were cut off by the sight of a red lizard bigger than a komodo dragon coming out of the room behind the fire sorceress. Its appearance was odd since it was broader than any lizard he'd ever seen; in fact it looked slightly toad-like in its proportions. None the less it was an intimidating sight, and the fact that it was perfectly content with the fact that its tail was on fire indicated that it was definitely a magical creature.

Still, as he looked at it a rather wicked thought crossed his mind.

"That's a mighty fine Charmeleon you've got there," Alex commented as he squatted down next to the creature, "Quite a big fellow too, is he ready to evolve to Charizard yet or are you going to level him up a bit more first?"

Looking up he saw that both the girls were looking at him in bemusement and couldn't help but let a smile break over his face as he internally cackled at his joke.

"Ah, sorry. It is rather poor manners to enquire on trainers future strategies isn't it? Please just forget I said that."

"Char-? This is a fire lizard! See, look at the tail. A flame this vivid and large means it's without a doubt a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! It's like a brand! Collectors can't even put a price on these!"

Despite her initial uncertainty the red haired mage seemed to swiftly resume her train of thought as she highlighted the many positive qualities of her reptilian familiar.

"That's nice," Louise said, her voice clearly bitter.

"Isn't it? It matches my affinity perfectly!"

"Your affinity is Fire, isn't it?"

"Of course. After all, I'm Kirche the Ardent. The ardent of gently smouldering passion. Everywhere I go, I have boys falling for me. Unlike you, right?"

Kirche puffed her chest out proudly. Not wanting to lose, Louise did the same, but the difference in volume was just too striking.

Despite this, Louise glared at Kirche. It wasn't that hard to tell that she really hated losing.

"I don't have the time to go around flirting with everything I see, unlike you."

Kirche only smiled calmly. Then glanced down to where Alex was giving every appearance of ignoring the byplay between them as he tried to work out how to properly pet a lizard the size of a small tiger.

"And what's your name?"

Alex abandoned his efforts to pet the reptile, to its displeasure if the disappointed rumble it gave was anything to go by, and stood up. He took a little bit of pleasure in the way that Kirche's eyes widened as he stood to his full height of nearly a head taller than her. Clearly as quite a tall girl herself she was unused to meeting someone who held such a considerable height advantage on her.

"Iskander Mest Babylon." Alex had been considering what to call himself when someone asked and had decided that since he was naming himself after the King of Conquerors then he'd take what was arguably his greatest conquest. The Mest had been pure gibberish that he'd thrown in there because it sounded good.

"Oh? What a strange name. That's not the name of a noble is it?"

"Hardly, I wouldn't be able to cast a spell if my life depended upon it." He replied with total truthfulness.

"I see. Well then, I'll be off now."

She stroked her flaming red hair back and walked off. The salamander followed her with a cute shuffling movement that looked odd with such a large creature.

As she disappeared, Louise shook a fist in her direction.

"Ooh, that girl gets on my nerves! Just because she summoned a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! Arrrgh!"

"There's no need to get angry my Lady." Alex assured her as he stepped up beside her. "She may have summoned a fine beast, but you've got me."

"Is that meant to make me feel better?! You can determine a mage's true power just by looking at their familiar! Why did that idiot get a salamander, while I got you?"

He knew that she was just saying that because she was not yet aware of what it was that he could do as a Gandálfr, but it was still a bit irritating to hear her dismiss him so casually.

"Louise, I think you still don't understand the full importance of having summoned a human to act as your Summon."

"Hah, I'd have preferred to have gotten a sparrow, at least then I'd have been able to use its eyes to see with. I can't even do that with you." For a moment she seemed to slump in place, then she straightened and turned to him. "Never mind that, let's go to breakfast."

As though it had heard her suggestion his stomach took that moment to growl quite ferociously.

"That might be a good idea." He agreed as he felt his face redden slightly.

* * *

-()-

* * *

The Academy of Magic's dining hall was the tallest and centremost building on the premises. Inside, three extremely long tables were arranged parallel to each other. Each one looking like it could easily seat a hundred people. The table at which Louise and all the second years sat was the middle table.

"Ah, so this is the famed Alviss Dining Hall," Alex commented as he looked around, "Most fitting for such a famed place of learning."

"Oh, so you know of it? Feel suitably grateful, normally a commoner like you would never set foot inside this great hall."

"The summoning told me of it. Still it is quite a thing to see it with one's own eyes." Alex replied as he stared at the various statues that lined the edges of the hall.

The two came to a stop as Louise paused before an empty chair; almost absently Alex pulled it out for her as he continued to look around the great room. As Louise sat down he leaned down slightly to address her.

"I doubt there's a place for me here since I don't imagine the serving staff is aware of me yet. Tell you what, I'll head down to the kitchens and see if I can get myself something to eat there. I heard that there's some kind of half day off later so that the students can spend a bit more time with their familiars. I'll meet back up with you then so we can discuss thing somewhat better. Till then you go to classes and I'll try and familiarize myself with this place."

He was well aware that the bowl filled with thin soup and a few scraps of meat was meant for him, but he'd be damned before he sat on the floor and ate like a dog. Not giving his Summoner a chance to answer he turned and headed towards one of the doors out of the hall.

It seemed that luck was on his side, after following a few of the servants that were bringing food to the hall he found the kitchens just as Siesta was arriving as well.

"Ah, hello again." He greeted her as the bright colours of the mantle he wore drew her eye, "I've come to see if I can find something to quieten down this unruly fellow." He grinned as he gently thumped his belly. With almost theatrical timing his stomach chose that moment to grumble once more.

Siesta giggled at his antics and gestured for him to follow her.

"Don't worry mister familiar, I'm sure that we can find something to quieten your problem."

Alex had to duck his head a bit to get through the door, but once he was inside the kitchen he found that despite its outside appearance the ceiling was high up enough that he didn't have to risk banging his head. The place had a busy atmosphere to it as cooks and maids bustled around ladling food into dishes and laying out other food on plates. Several of them paused in their work to take a look at the towering and oddly dressed young man that had just entered the room, but quickly returned to their tasks as he passed them by.

"I think that there's still some food left over from the nobles' breakfast. If you don't mind you can eat that."

Alex returned her tentative question with a big grin and a nod of his head.

"I'd be most grateful, thank you."

In just a few minutes the black haired maid had set a plate down in front of him with a couple of chicken legs, some fresh baked bread, a slice of some sort of pie and some fruits that he didn't recognize.

"I'm sorry that it's just the staff meal-"

Alex cut her off by raising a hand.

"This looks positively delicious and more than enough for me. Once again you have my sincerest thanks."

Grabbing a knife and fork that were on the plate he started to carve a strip of flesh off one of the legs, then paused as he realized something.

"Ah, I'm such a fool. This is twice that you've most generously helped me and I still haven't taken the common courtesy to introduce myself." Putting his fork down he turned to face his benefactor. "Please forgive me. I'm Iskander Mest Babylon; might I have the name of the one that has so kindly helped me?"

"I'm Siesta. Is that a noble name?" There was a slight catch in her voice as she said that and he could see her eyes flicking to the rich red of his mantle and the golden embroidery upon it.

"It's like I told that noble girl earlier, I couldn't cast a spell to save my life." He assured her. "In all honesty I have to say that I've been less than impressed by the nobles I've seen since arriving here."

"Oh no! You shouldn't say things like that to nobles!"

"Well I don't plan to lie either. If you want to be regarded as nobility then you'd better damned well act with nobility. If you don't then thing will go the way of the French Revolution."

"The French Revolution?" Siesta sounded confused by the reference.

"About a couple hundred years or so ago there was a country where the nobility became completely detached from those they ruled over. In the end they were living in luxury while the peasants were starving to death. To make a long story short the commoners eventually rose up against the nobility and executed pretty much the lot of them. In a way if things had stopped there then it could have been a great thing, but the people were angry and thirsty for blood. It didn't help that men who were fanatics ended up as the leaders."

He took a mouthful of food and glanced to where Siesta as well as several other members of the staff were listening to him enraptured.

"History came to call it the Reign of Terror, people were arrested and sentenced to execution for the most ridiculous and petty things. Mobs ran riot in the streets and carried out their own 'justice' on anyone who was even accused of allying with the nobility. By the end of the whole wretched affair had claimed something like seventeen thousand victims at the very least, the last being the man that had been running the whole thing."

As he finished talking Alex saw the appalled expressions on everyone's faces.

"Ah, my apologies. The French Revolution was one of my areas of study back during my education; I tend to ramble once I get started."

"Did-Did so many really die?"

The question came from one of the maids that were standing next to Siesta.

"Sadly yes, things were so chaotic and wild back then that the death count might have actually been higher, there's just no way of being certain." Shaking himself he sat up, "Don't be so downhearted, it was a bloody chapter in a country's history, but they recovered from it. These days the country is famous for its food and wine, I spent a few weeks holiday there a couple of years ago."

His good humour seemed to dismiss the rather dark atmosphere that had fallen over the room.

"Oh? Have you been to many countries mister Babylon?" Siesta asked.

"Just Iskander is fine," he assured her as he took a swig of water. "My parents were from different countries and the place where I lived was pretty close to some borders, so travelling wasn't that hard."

"Do you have a large family?" Siesta asked. As she did so the other maids and cooks began to return to their duties, it seemed that talking about his family wasn't as entertaining as tales of bloody executions.

"Yes, I've got two sisters, one older and one younger. In fact my older sister got married just last year. It was . . ."

* * *

-()-

* * *

Alex stood on the roof of one of the school's towers and gazed out over the vast fields that could be seen from these heights.

Breakfast had been a couple of hours ago and though he'd been having a fine time chatting with the friendly maid he'd decided to get on with trying to learn how to get around the school without getting lost. After a few false starts he'd finally worked out where thing were and begun to get a decent idea of how to navigate the various corridors and hallways. He still didn't have the whole place down yet, not by half, but at least he now had a good idea of how to find Louise's room and how to get to various places from there.

Now he was standing here and relaxing as he tried to plan his next move.

Or at least that had been the plan. In practice he was in fact staring at the markings on the back of his right hand and trying to work out what they were. Did they perhaps signify some sort of link to books? Perhaps it was like his Gandálfr runes and wouldn't activate until he actually held a book in his hands. Arrrgh, this was so frustrating. His thoughts just kept on chasing themselves round in circles in his head.

"Why don't you just show me what you are you blasted scar."

Perhaps it was just his frustration but he'd actually addressed the comment at the marking out loud, hardly something he normally did.

Therefore he was very surprised when the out-of-character action drew a reaction from the markings on his hand.

The scar lines that made up the form of the book seemed to light up as though with internal illumination. Alex barely had time to blink in surprise before the glow suddenly flashed into a blinding light that left him seeing spots before his eyes. Alex stumbled back and ended up tripping over his own feet as he missed a step. Landing heavily on his rump he frantically blinked his eyes as he tried to clear his vision of the black and white spots dancing before his eyes.

Bit by bit his sight returned, though when it did so he had to blink a few more times to make sure that he wasn't in fact hallucinating.

Hovering in the air in front of him was a book. To be more accurate it was the book that he'd seen last night, the book that had eaten pretty much everything he owned and then electrocuted him. In other words it was not a book that he was too happy to see again.

Still, despite his misgivings he reached out to catch the book as it drifted down to him as slowly as though it were a feather. As he did so he noted that the scar lines on his right hand were now gone.

As soon as it settled into his grip he could feel its weight returning, but had no trouble in holding onto it. For a moment he sat there and simply studied the tome that he now held.

It was quite a large book a good foot by nine inches and at least three inches thick. The cover was bound in thick dark brown leather with no design or words upon it. This time there was no shocking jolt or searing pain, and that was definitely a good sign. With a shrug Alex tried to open it on a random page half way through.

Emphasis on 'tried'.

It was as though the pages were made of steel and welded together, he simply couldn't pry them apart. And yet when he just let the book fall open as it would the pages moved as though they were just normal paper. Frowning slightly he looked down at where the book had fallen open. If he had to guess he'd say that it was about ten or twenty pages into the book. However when he saw what was on the page such thoughts were banished from his mind and replaced with incredulity.

On the page was a picture of himself in his Rider costume. It was a pretty good picture if he did say so himself and was clearly something that had been drawn and then painted by hand rather than just printed. Then he looked at what was written on the page across from the picture and he felt his jaw drop in astonishment.

Alex Rivers/ Iskander

Alignment: Neutral Good

Class: Rider/Gandálfr

Height: 194cm

Weight: 97kg

( ) = When boosted by Mark of the Gandálfr

Strength: B (A)

Endurance: A

Agility: D (B)

Mana: B

Luck: B

N. Phantasm: A+

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: C

_Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against Magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals._

Riding: A+

_Creatures on the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts. However, that does not apply to members of the Dragon Kind._

Expert of Many Specializations: A

_As a Servant of the__ Gandálfr class this skill allows the use of any weapon the Servant comes into contact with as though it were a favoured weapon with years of mastery and training in it regardless of how exotic a weapon it may be._

Personal Skills:

Charisma: B

_Suitable for a king of a country or to command a country's military._

Military Tactics: B

_Suitable to command an army of many thousands to great effect as well as provide a bonus modifier during the use of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm or when dealing against an enemy Anti-Army Noble Phantasm._

Noble Phantasms

**Gordius Wheel: Wheel of Heaven's Authority**

Type: Anti-Army Rank: A+ Range: 2-50 Maximum Number of Targets: 100

**Mark of the ****Gandálfr: Mastery of All Weapons**

Type: Anti-Unit Rank: A Range: 1 Maximum Number of Targets: 30

/-/-/

_This is the Default avatar of Alex, the one that he will naturally revert to when the power sustaining his other avatars is exhausted. Unlike his other avatars this one has the ability to wield weapons and tools from other sources than its own series as well as being able to acquire new skills and Noble Phantasms. _

Stats? More than that these were the stats of a Servant from the Fate series, and they were for **him**?

This-This was absurd, utterly ridiculous.

Except . . .

Except that he hadn't been strong enough to break oak furniture like toothpicks before. He hadn't thought in terms of military strategy with the same ease with which he spoke his own language. And he certainly couldn't hold to a role that he was playing so easily without stuttering or stumbling over his words.

And yet all of these things had happened to him since coming to this world.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself he looked over the details of his stats again with more attentive eyes. His rankings seemed to be the same as the Iskander in Fate Zero as far as the physical stats were concerned. His luck seemed to be reduced from the extremely high rank of A+ to the merely formidable rank of B, however his Mana seemed to be at the B rank rather than the original C rank.

If this was to be taken seriously then it meant that he wasn't as lucky as the Rider he was imitating, but he was able to handle more magical power than the original had.

The Class and Personal skills were somewhat different as well. For one he seemed to have the Expert of Many Specializations ability as a class skill. Looking back at the top of the page he saw that his Class was defined as Rider/Gandálfr, a dual Class? That had never come up in the Fate series, here though it seemed to mean that he got an extra Skill that Rider hadn't possessed.

There were a couple of other changes too, his Magic Resistance was a full rank higher than the original Iskander's had been, however it looked as though the Divinity Personal Skill wasn't there at all. By the looks of things that had been traded for a slightly increased resistance to magical attacks.

B rank in both Charisma and Military Tactics, could that be the reason for some of what was happening? Charisma would certainly explain how he was managing to pull off his speeches and conversations so much more easily than normal. Alex wasn't a shy fellow but he wasn't any sort of speechifyer either. Given some of what he'd done, just randomly pulling words out of his head and throwing them together because he thought they might sound good, he should have stumbled or at least have lost the thread at least once. Instead he'd been able to carry on with no problems at all.

The same could be said about Military Tactics, it certainly explained why when he'd thought about Saito's battle against an army it had seemed so clear to him how the army could be broken with the right men and means. Most of the time he didn't even like tactics based computer games, yet there he'd been planning out an entire battlefield.

More and more it was looking as though what was depicted in this book was actually real. It wasn't simply his costume and props that had become real armour and weapons, he himself had taken on the qualities of the Servant that he had dressed up as.

Looking at the section on Noble Phantasms he noted that Ionioi Hetairoi wasn't there. Instead there a new Noble Phantasm that embodied his status as a Gandálfr. That was something of a disappointment given that the Army of the King was an insanely powerful asset to have at one's disposal. If his memories of the Familiar of Zero series were anything to go on then in almost any situation it would be a game winning card to play.

On the other hand he supposed he could see why he didn't possess it. The most fundamental basis of that Noble Phantasm had been the bond between the King and his soldiers that it had represented. Alex didn't possess that bond and as such had no right to expect that kind of power.

Of course by the same token he shouldn't have had the Gordius Wheel to call upon and yet there it was. Almost without thought his hand went to the short sword at his waist.

Could it be true? Could he really call upon that magnificent chariot with just a swing of his sword? He could feel it now, now that he was looking for it. A sort of tenseness within him, like a muscle that was coiled to spring and was just waiting for the right moment to come.

He could do it.

The thought crystallized in his mind with absolute certainty. He just knew that if he swung the sword just _so _then it would open a tear in the world through which his chariot would come through. And not only that, he'd be able to ride it as well, he could feel the knowledge of how to pull and snap the reigns to direct the bull grow in his mind as he thought about it. Hell, if he wanted to he could ride a horse, a camel, a dragon or an elephant, the knowledge and skills of how to do so were right there in his mind, as clear as his own name.

A+ rank Riding, probably a good skill to have since horses and carriages were the way to get around in this world and Alex had only ridden a horse once in his entire life and that had been when he was eleven.

For a moment he was tempted to make the swing of his sword and summon the chariot, simply so that he could feel its power and experience the thrill of driving it with these new skills. However it was only a momentary impulse that was swiftly quashed by logic. A Noble Phantasm wasn't a toy to play with; it was a trump card to be reserved.

Or used to impress one's partner he supposed, recalling the actions of the real Iskander in his Holy Grail War.

Turning his attention back to the book he turned the page to see what was next.

The next page had a number of drawings upon it of the chariot and bulls that he'd just been thinking about. The pictures were coloured in inks and resembled the concept drawings for the vehicle that he'd seen on the internet. On the page across from the pictures was a description of the uses and abilities of the Noble Phantasm set out in a way similar to the entry for it on the Type-MOON wiki. There were some subtle differences, but for the most part they were simply the words referring to him rather than the original Iskander and a couple of comments about how this Noble Phantasm was compatible with Mark of the Gandálfr.

The two pages were apparently devoted to the new Noble Phantasm that he'd gain with the Gandálfr class. On one page was a large printed copy of the runes burnt onto the back of his left hand while the page across from it had a description of the abilities imparted by those runes. Intuitive knowledge to use weapons of any kind, augmentation to physical abilities, the conversion of emotions into power, a link to the one that imparted the runes. Pretty much all that he had been expecting given his knowledge of the series and the exploits of Saito.

However after that no more pages would turn. Frowning again Alex flicked back to the part with his stats and took note of what was written at the bottom. '_This is the Default avatar of Alex', _this implied that there were other avatars, whatever they were. Also '_Unlike his other avatars this one has the ability to wield weapons and tools from other sources than its own series', _that implied that there would be weapons from other series to wield. Could that mean that all the possessions that the book had sucked up were still available to him somehow?

There was something going on here that he didn't quite get, but for the time being he was willing to roll with it. One thing he did know was that he'd received a considerable boost in power, much more than he'd expected to have when he decided to go with being Louise's familiar. Servants might not be invincible, but having the power of Rider would certainly improve his chances of living long enough to . . .

To . . . what? That was a question that he'd been subconsciously avoiding. Should he try to go home? For that matter **could **he go home? He knew that if he flew into an eclipse then there was a chance that he'd return to Earth, but would it be **his** Earth? Might he not end up on the world of Hiraga Saito instead, a world where there might already be an Alex Rivers?

And that aside there was also the moral questions to be asked. Should he abandon this world to the path it might well follow if he wasn't there? Leave Louise to die covering an army's retreat, leave Tabitha to continue as the pawn of her uncle, leave that uncle to burn the world in his demented schemes to reignite his emotions?

Hah, who was he kidding? He knew damned well that if he left these folks in the lurch then it would haunt him for the rest of his life. They were good people at the end of the day; even the skirt chasing Guiche or his tsundere Summoner, they certainly didn't deserve to be abandoned.

Alex enjoyed writing, and during the course of his writing he'd come up with a creed that he liked. He knew it was not a realistic code to live by, but he felt that simply trying to stick with it was a good way of living one's life.

Live your life as you see fit, go to your grave without regrets.

He knew that it was an unrealistic creed to try to uphold, after all everyone had regrets, if only small ones. Still he could honestly say that there wasn't much in his life that he regretted and certainly no major regrets so far. But leaving before things were settled, leaving when he knew it could cost lives, that was something that he'd regret big time.

He was brought out of his ruminations by the sound of a sudden explosion in the school building some distance away from the spot where he sat. Ah yes, that must be where Louise was having her lesson he guessed. In the series it as also where Saito first learnt of her tendency to cause every spell she tried to result in an explosion. As it stood Alex had neatly avoided being caught up in the general mayhem following her attempt at a spell.

Still if memory served correctly then Louise was punished by having to clear up the room that she'd blown up without using any magic of her own. For a small girl like her that can't have been easy, and right now she didn't have Saito beside her to help out. Ah well, he'd decided to be her familiar, though he wasn't going to accept that title, Summon sounded much better, he'd best go and help his little Summoner.

As he got up he glanced down at the book in his hands.

"Guess I'm going to be having to lug you around until I find somewhere safe to put you."

As soon as he'd finished saying the joking words the book suddenly glowed with a white light . . . then faded out of sight as though it were nothing more than a dream. Alex felt a slight sting on the back of his right hand and glanced down to see that the thin scar lines making up the picture of a book were once more there on his skin.

"Hmm, interesting." This called for further experimentation in the future. Right now though he had to go and aid his beleaguered Summoner.

* * *

-()-

* * *

"You should have been here when I needed you, not wandering around the school." Louise grumbled as she righted another chair and brushed some dust off it.

"I hardly think following you into lessons would have been a good use of my available time," Replied Alex as he heaved a table that had been overturned back into the correct position. "I was able to get a good meal, establish friendly relations with the servant staff and familiarize myself with the layout of this place. All in all I'd say that was time quite well spent."

He took a moment to look around the room, to take in just how scattered all the furniture was, not to mention the soot stains and slight burns.

"This really is quite impressive my Lady, did you really manage all this with just one spell?"

"It was just a little mistake," she grumbled in reply as she used a damp clothe to wipe the soot off another chair that she had just righted. "Just a slight screw up. I don't see why everyone's making such a fuss over it."

With a rather marvellous sense of timing the blackboard chose that moment to give up the ghost and topple over in a loud crash as it broke into four separate parts. Alex didn't need to say a thing; he simply raised one eyebrow and looked at his pink haired Summoner who had the grace to blush.

"At how much of a distance could you perform such an explosion?" the red haired young man asked as he moved to pick up the pieces of broken blackboard.

"Huh? I don't know I've never tried."

"Perhaps we should set aside some time in the future to perform some experiments," he suggested. "I can think of a number of uses for such an explosion if you can make it at a distance. Hah, just imagine what it could do to an enemy supply line if you could sneak behind them. Not only would it kill some of them but the noise and the explosion itself would scatter them like leaves in a gale. It would be a nightmare trying to get it back in order."

He continued to pick up the various pieces of the board's frame until he realized he couldn't hear any noises coming from Louise. Glancing over at her he saw that she was staring at him in perplexed amazement.

"What's wrong?"

"You-you think this explosion is **good**?" Her voice was hesitant, oddly fragile.

"Well you can obviously make explosions of considerable power, and any sort of destructive power is always an asset to a military. Tell me, what spell were you attempting when you caused all this?"

"Errr, basic earth transmutation."

"Hah! You try to simply transform something and this happens? Just think what you might be able to accomplish with a spell that's **meant **to cause an explosion. We're going to have to put some time aside to practice and experiment my Summoner, just you wait. We'll drag out that potential of yours by the scruff of its neck if need be."

The room grew silent once more save for the sound of Alex's work as the pink haired young girl continued to stare at him.

"You . . . you think I've got potential?"

There was no mistaking the fragile hope in that voice. Alex almost kicked himself as he realized just how delicate the poor girl's ego was at this point. She still had no idea of her true power, of her elemental affinity. Right now she was simply a young girl that had never been able to get a spell to work right in her life. He represented her first success, and she was willing to grab onto anything that reassured her that she wasn't totally without talent with a death grip.

"Of course! I am a powerful summon, therefore it goes without saying that my Summoner must be of an equal tier. If you are having trouble with your magic it simply means that we'll have to find some other way that suits you more."

He made the declaration with as much confidence as he could manage which, much to his own surprise, was quite a lot. It seemed to have some effect on Louise because she ducked her head and then turned away to work on another chair.

"Hmph, as though a commoner like you is a powerful familiar."

The words were derisive, but the new Gandálfr allowed himself a private smile as he noted that they lacked any real force to them.


	3. Chapter 3: Demonstration

**The various fictional worlds, characters and elements that are written about in this fanfiction belong to their various creators, who I'm too lazy to list. This is purely a fan work and not intended to generate any sort of profit. I know that if it does a fair number of bloodthirsty lawyers are likely to make my life miserable. As always constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored.**

**I'm somewhat surprised at how well this story was received, all truth be told. I was expecting flames about Gary Stus and complaints about an Over Powered character, but to my pleasure my readers have been most civil and supportive. Just so you know, i think i have recovered my inspiration for God Slaying Blade Works, so the next update of Why Me? may be a bit of a ways in the future, fortunately the shorter length of the chapters makes updating it a bit easier so who knows . . .  
**

**In regards to Alex's Riding skill, I am aware that at A+ rank he can ride all phantasmal beasts, but not dragon kind. Since dragons are the crème de la crème of mounts in the world of Familiar of Zero this might seem like a bit too much of a limitation, however I don't regard the dragons in Halkeginia to be the equals of the dragons in the Nasuverse.**

**Those dragons are nigh invincible monsters of the highest rank able to wipe out entire armies that generate Prana simply by breathing and are smart enough that they developed and taught an entire school of martial arts to a temple of monks as a hobby. On the other hand the dragons in Halkeginia are little more than fire breathing animals only a step or two above horses. The only exceptions to this are the rhyme dragons, but as far as I know they are all extinct apart from Sylphid/Irukuku. As such I've decided that just about the only creature in the world that Alex can't ride is Sylphid, and that's only if she is actively resisting him. **

**SPOILERS.**

**I freely admit that this chapter has been fairly influenced by Hill of Swords by Gabriel Blessing, though I'm quite confident that I haven't strayed into the realms of plagiarism, but have instead merely used his work as a source of inspiration.**

**My original plan was to have Alex win the duel with Guiche in a single stroke by summoning the ****Gordius Wheel and utterly annihilating the Valkyries in a display of massive overkill. In the end though I decided to go against this since it struck me as being against Alex's character. He's meant to be a SMART original character, and I felt that the smartest thing a person could do in a situation like the one he's found himself in is to keep their trump cards close to their chest.**

**I hope that the made up system that I've come up with proves to be amusing. If anyone can spot any flaws or contradictions in it please feel free to tell me since such errors can be used in future plotlines.**

**This chapter also marks the introduction of the system by which Alex can access his various sealed possessions. I am well aware that the system bears a resemblance to various videogame stories, and I confess that is where the original inspiration came from. However as the story continues the unlock conditions will become more complex and intricate which should keep things interesting.**

**Also I would like to thank both of my Betas, n0mster and NewAgeOfPower for their help in getting this chapter ready for you all to read. **

**Now, enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Demonstration**

In the end it didn't take them too long to get the room cleared up. Despite the rather widespread destruction apart from one or two exceptions, such as the blackboard and the windows, the damage was largely superficial and easy to clean up. It seemed that the teacher who'd been caught in the blast had recovered and had dismissed them after seeing how they'd cleared up the room. Alex couldn't help but notice that she now seemed to twitch ever so slightly every time she looked at Louise.

"Today the second year students are all having a half day so as to spend some time with their new familiars." His Summoner commented as they walked towards the green where the summoning of familiars had been conducted the day before. By the looks of things the event must have started a bit ago because there were already a fair number of students there chatting either to each other or to their familiars.

"Excellent then," he commented, "This shall give us a chance to complete our discussions upon our future partnership. But first, I'm hungry, would you like me to pick you up anything while I grab some food?"

"Get me some tea . . ." there was a brief hesitation, "please."

Clearly he'd made something of an impact if she was adding that tiny mark of politeness rather than simply demanding it of him. Alex chose to take that as a good sign.

"Of course my Lady, I'll be back in just a moment."

As he strode off through the masses of the students and their familiars the red haired young man pondered what was going to happen next. This was where the duel between Saito and Guiche had started, though the exact cause of it differed in the media used. In the Light Novels the confrontation had occurred due to Saito simply giving him back a bottle of perfume he'd dropped while in the anime it was due to the Japanese teen's calling out him on his playboy habits.

Given how things had progressed so far Alex was pretty sure that he was in the Light Novel continuity. If so then that meant that he'd have the opportunity to decide whether or not to go through with the chain of events that would lead to a fight between him and the earth mage. If he wanted to he could simply put the little bottle of perfume to the side and then nothing would come of it.

The thing was that he wanted to test out his new power, and doing it while going up against Guiche would be a hell of a lot safer than trying it out for the first time on one of Fouquet's massive golems. Also there was the simple fact that he wanted to demonstrate to everyone, especially Louise, that he wasn't someone to simply dismiss. Doing so would also hopefully bolster his Summoner's confidence once she learnt that it wasn't some random plebeian that she'd summoned but someone with skills and power.

"So, Guiche! Who're you going out with now?"

"Who's your lover, Guiche?"

And there seemed to be the starting point. He'd read those lines before, both in the translation of the Japanese book and in fanfictions.

"'Go out?' I hold no one woman in such special regard. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many."

Alex felt his face crease in irritation even as he loaded some tea and a couple of plates of cake onto a tray. He'd forgotten how annoying the blond earth mage had been at the start of the series. Granted he'd matured as the story progressed and became a staunch friend to Saito. Still that didn't change the fact that right now he was acting in a manner that set the new Gandálfr's teeth on edge.

And there it was, something falling out of Guiche's pocket. It was a small glass bottle with a purple liquid swirling inside it.

Well this was it, time to get the ball rolling.

"Hey boyo, you just dropped this bottle."

Despite the volume of Alex's call the blond mage didn't turn round, instead he simply ignored the older teen.

With a scowl deepening on his face Alex held the tray easily in one hand as he leaned down and picked up the bottle.

"Are you hard of hearing boy? I just said that you dropped this."

As he placed it on the table Guiche shot him an irritated look and pushed the bottle away.

"This is not mine. What are you talking about?"

By this point it seemed that Guiche's friends had realized where the bottle came from and had no problems with adding their own fuel to the fire.

"Ooh? That perfume, isn't that Montmorency's?"

"Yeah! That vivid purple colour is the perfume that Montmorency only mixes for herself!"

"So to have something like that fall out of your pocket, Guiche, means that you're going out with Montmorency now, right?"

"No wait, listen to me. I'm saying this for the sake of her reputation, but..."

As Guiche was about to say more, a girl, who wore a brown cloak and had been sitting at the table behind them, stood up and walked over to Guiche's seat. She was a cute girl sporting chestnut-coloured hair. If what Alex remembered about the colour of the cloak she wore was right then that meant that she was a first year student.

"Guiche-sama . . ."

And with that, she burst into tears.

"I knew it, you and Miss Montmorency are . . ."

"They're misunderstanding Katie. Just listen, the only person I hold in my heart is you-"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as the girl called Katie slapped the earth mage across his face as hard as she could.

"That perfume you dropped from your pocket is more than enough proof! Goodbye!"

Guiche rubbed his cheek.

At this point, the girl with tightly rolled blonde locks of hair stood up from a seat further down the table. Alex had no trouble recognizing her at all, she was Montmorency, a water mage and one of the main supporting cast as well as Guiche's principle romantic interest. Though one wouldn't believe it, looking at her now, given that she was advancing on him with a very dark look on her face.

"Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle . . ." Guiche said, shaking his head. Alex noted that though he was pretending to remain composed a drop of cold sweat was running down the side of his forehead.

"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you?!"

"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance. Don't twist your rose-like face in anger like that. It saddens me to see it!"

Montmorency grabbed a bottle of wine that was on the table and poured its contents out over Guiche's head.

"You liar!"

She yelled and stormed off.

Guiche pulled out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face. Then he shook his head before speaking dramatically.

"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

With a snort of derision the newly made Gandálfr turned around as though to walk away.

"Stop right there." Guiche's voice came just as he'd expected it to. Turning round he faced the young playboy.

"What?"

Guiche spun his body about on the chair and crossed his legs with a flourish. He clearly had the soul of a performer as he managed to load drama and flair into his movements with ease, though in Alex's opinion he was overdoing it to the point where he simply looked like a ham.

"Thanks to you thoughtlessly picking up some bottle of perfume, the reputation of two ladies has been damaged. How will you take responsibility?"

"Boy, I just returned what was yours, if it was going to cause you so much trouble you shouldn't have been carrying it in the first place. Better yet you shouldn't have been playing with the affections of two girls like that; it never works out well for anyone.

His comments apparently amused the earth mage's companions.

"Exactly, Guiche! It's your own fault!"

"Listen you great lout. When you put the bottle of perfume on the table I pretended not to know anything, didn't I? Would it have hurt to be a little bit tactful and have just gone along with it?"

"Was that what you were doing? I simply thought that you were dull of wits and had forgotten it was yours. I understand that to be an affliction in some of the noble families."

"You-"

"Look, if you want to act like a rake that's your own business, just don't try to blame me because your indiscretions caught up with you boy."

Guiche's face was now burning red and seemed to be entering the realms of purple.

"You . . . How dare you address a noble so you-you commoner."

With a visible effort the earth mage reigned in his temper and produced his rose wand which he held absently between his fingers.

"It would seem that you don't know the proper etiquette for a plebeian facing a noble."

"The nobility proved to be more trouble than they were worth, so in my land they were reduced to an honorary rank with little real power." Alex commented as he played slightly with the truth.

"I don't know from what barbarous land you hail from you great brute, but clearly you need to have the respect for the nobility beaten into you. I challenge you to a duel commoner; if you have the courage to back up your words meet me at the Vestri Court in a few minutes."

There it was, the challenge that Alex had been waiting for, the opportunity to test and prove his power that he had sought.

"Oh? Is that how you want to do it boyo? Are you so eager to cover up your shame that you resort to blood theatre? Ah, whatever, this should prove to be of some entertainment, be sure not to disappoint me."

With a genuine chuckle of amusement at the small drama that was playing out the red haired young man turned . . . and nearly ran into Siesta.

"Oh, sorry Siesta. I didn't see you there."

Despite his jovial apology she simply gazed at him in mute horror.

"You . . . You're going to get killed."

Okay, maybe not quite mute.

"Nonsense," he assured her, "I am a Summon. If a child like that could kill me then I wouldn't have been summoned in the first place."

His absolute confidence seemed to startle her, because the dismay faded from her face to be replaced with confusion. However before she could say a word he felt a tugging upon his Mantle, looking to the side he saw that Louise had arrived and was trying to use the crimson and gold vestment to drag him down to her level. Unfortunately for her she simply lacked the physical weight or strength to accomplish the feat and so instead resembled a child tugging on her father's coat to get his attention.

"You-You hare-brained ox, what do you think you're doing?! I saw all that!"

"Hello my Lady, is something bothering you?"

"Is something- Have you completely lost your mind?! How can you just promise a duel and then act as though it's no big deal?!"

"With great ease, it's not as though there's anything to be too worried about. Incidentally would you like some of this cake? It's really quite good."

Both the girls were staring at him as though he had suddenly started babbling in a foreign tongue. Internally Alex actually found their shock to be more than a bit amusing and so did his best to act as nonchalantly as possible as he took a bite out of one of the slices of cake on his tray.

"But-But you can't fight a noble," Siesta declared as she wrung her hands in worry, "He has magic! Mr Iskander, even if you are big there's no way that you can win against magic, that's just the way things are."

The red haired young man was actually quite touched by the concern she was showing for him. He'd only spent a short time with her but it seemed that he'd already made a friend, excellent.

"The maid is right you lummox. Guiche might be a playboy and a fool but he's still a noble and an earth mage. I don't care how big you are, you can't win. You'll be badly injured. Actually, you'll be lucky to come back alive with just injuries."

Louise might not be as kind in her words, but it seemed that she shared the same concerns as the black haired maid. Though she was trying to remain composed he noted that her right hand was balled into a fist.

"My Lady, Siesta, I see that both of you still do not understand what it means for one to be a Summon," As he gulped down a mouthful of tea to wash the cake down with Alex held up his left hand for them to see the runes engraved upon it. "This mark proves the pact between us, but you have yet to understand what that pact means. Well this boyo should be a fine chance to test out my new Class as well as the strength that I've received from becoming a Summon."

Both girls were just staring at him now in complete incomprehension. Neither of them seemed to be able to fully grasp what he had said. Well that was okay; after all he was pretty much making it up as he went along after all. Putting down the tray he glanced around.

"Now, can anyone tell me where this Vestri Court is? It would be poor etiquette to keep my opponent waiting."

One of the friends of Guiche's that had been watching their exchange pointed with his chin.

"This way, commoner."

"Right, let's get going then."

* * *

-()-

* * *

There was quite a crowd gathered at the court when Alex arrived. It seemed that word of what was going to happen had managed to get around and the students were gathering to watch the ensuing entertainment.

"Gentlemen! It's a duel!"

Guiche lifted his artificial rose high, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd. This guy was a natural ham, still for all his pretensions Alex did have to admit that he managed to at least not look completely ridiculous.

"Guiche is going to duel! His opponent is Louise's commoner!"

And it looked like they still hadn't bothered to learn his name. Ah well, give him a little time and he was sure that that wouldn't be a problem for them much longer.

Waving his arms about, Guiche acknowledged the cheering, a performer on a stage basking in the applause of his audience.

And then, as if finally noticing Alex's presence there, he turned to face him.

"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a sing-song voice, as he twirled his rose wand in a clearly practiced manner.

"Boy, I have no reason to run. I've seen sheep that were more intimidating than you."

Admittedly those sheep had been on a television screen and part of a movie where the farm animals were genetically altered to hunger for human flesh. The premise had been laughable, but somehow 'Black Sheep' had managed to make the fluffy white animal appear sinister.

The blond mage's face twitched slightly, but he retained his composure.

"Right then, let us begin,"

The space separating them was approximately five or six metres, not a difficult space to cross. The problem was that as soon as he tried to traverse it then Guiche would produce his bronze golems. No, actually that wasn't a **problem** it was an **opportunity**.

A slightly feral smile spread across Alex's lips as he stared at the earth mage he was facing. If the fight went as he remembered from both the anime and the novels then even with just the power of the Gandálfr Saito had been able to win. But Alex didn't just have the power of the runes; he also had the physical powers of a powerful Servant at his disposal, powers he wanted to test.

And Guiche was about to provide some convenient targets, all he needed was a bit of motivation.

In a single motion the red haired young man drew the sword at his belt. To most others that sword would have made for a decent longsword, but to someone as large as Alex the blade was more like a short sword. Still the action had the effect that he'd been hoping for.

On seeing the blade being drawn Guiche waved his rose wand and sent a single petal drifting to the ground. As soon as it touched the earth the red petal flared with light and became the armour-clad form of a female warrior. Its height was about the same as the average male student, but it appeared to be constructed from some hard metal of a dull green colour. Under the pale sunlight, its skin . . . or rather its armour gleamed.

"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. As you have your sword so do I have my wand, I trust there will be no complaints?"

The smug satisfaction in his voice was almost palpable. It was clear to see that he was looking forwards to showing this, as he saw it, brutish commoner that his large body was meaningless against the power of a mage.

"If you want to have your toys fight for you then that is your business, just don't come crying to me when they get broken."

"My Runic name is 'the Bronze', Guiche the Bronze. Be sure to remember that name you barbarian, it shall be the name of the one that shall teach you your proper place in the world. Now my bronze golem 'Valkyrie' shall be your real opponent."

The metal creation moved forwards to attack, its fist lashing out in a blow that would have caught Alex in the stomach had it hit home.

However the large red head was already moving to the side as the construct charged. As the fist whistled past him he brought his sword down in a one handed chop on the elbow of the extended arm.

Alex watched with awe as the blade of his weapon cut through the Valkyrie's arm as though it had been made of butter rather than metal. This was absolutely incredible, the magical creation had seemed to be moving in slow motion to him, as though the air around it had become thick as tar and it was having to force its way through. And his strength, he'd had some idea about it from his earlier experiments, but to feel the resistance of metal crumble before him . . . it was beyond description.

In desperate reaction to the loss of its arm the Valkyrie swung at him with the spear it held in its other hand. The blow wasn't really aimed at anywhere in particular, instead it was just a wild flail meant to drive him back and get the construct some room. It was unskilled, but it was still backed by more force than a normal human could have managed.

Sparks flashed in the air as Alex blocked the metal shaft of the spear with his sword. The muscles of his bare arm visibly coiled beneath the skin as his tensed arm absorbed and endured the force of the blow without him giving so much as a millimetre. The edge of spatha bit into the metal of the spear, a clear sign as to which to the two weapons was of superior quality.

With his free hand the new Gandálfr reached out and seized the helmet/head of the magical creation in his large grasp. There was a brief moment of resistance, then with an almost agonized screech of metal the bronze cranium crushed inwards as though it had been nothing more than an empty soda can.

Alex simply stared at the now limp metal from hanging from his grip. This . . . this was beyond anything that he'd been expecting. He'd known intellectually that the mere physical power of a Servant was far beyond what humans were capable of. Hell, their weakest stat was effectively ten times the average human maximum, and Rider hadn't been a weak Servant by any stretch of the imagination. Even though agility had been his weakest stat the red haired young man still found he could easily outpace the movements of the metal construct.

Letting the now headless Valkyrie drop from his hand and sprawl on the floor Alex raised one foot and then stamped down hard upon the chest of the downed magical creation. There was another outcry of metallic protest, then the chest caved inwards under the force that the sandaled foot was applying.

With a deliberately contemptuous motion the new Gandálfr kicked the wrecked form of the construct so that it landed at the feet of its creator.

"This is a fight boy; if you only intend to send fragile toys against me then you'd better be ready for the consequences when I get to you."

"D-Don't get arrogant just because you got l-lucky with one of my Valkyrie," Guiche angrily shouted as he made slashing motions with his rose wand, "How's **this**? Can you handle them?"

In response to his movements six more petals fell from his wand. As each touched the ground there was a flash of light and another of the Valkyrie constructs appeared. The trepidation that had been marring the blond mage's features faded as he looked at the line of magical creations now standing between him and the imposing red clad man that he faced. Arrogance seeped back into his posture and confidence returned to his face.

For his part Alex was considering the virtues of summoning his chariot and simply charging down the metal warriors before him. It would be an impressive display of power, one that would no doubt leave all witnesses stunned and in awe. However after a moment he dismissed the thought. For the time being at least he wanted to keep his Noble Phantasm as a hidden trump card, instead it was time to try out the power of the runes on his left hand.

Earlier they hadn't lit up when he'd attacked the first Valkyrie, but that had probably been because he hadn't been using the sword so much as he had been testing the new abilities of his body. Now though he gripped the spatha tighter and glared at the foes before him. In response to his will to fight the runes on his left hand lit up.

The world slowed around him as he felt his body become lighter. In front of him the metal constructs seemed to slow even more than they had before, their movements now almost dreamlike in the slowness of their motions through the air.

Alex didn't hesitate for even an instant, instead he charged straight at his oncoming foes.

What happened could not be called a fight, since a fight would indicate that both sides were a threat to each other. This was nothing less than a total slaughter.

The new Gandálfr's sword sheared through all that stood against it. Metal spears split before it as the blade of the weapon went on to chop the construct holding it in two. The metal that made up the Valkyrie's bodies was unable to even slow the cuts of the sword down as first one then three then five of the magical creations were cut apart as though made of nothing but paper.

Deciding that he wanted to go for a spectacular finish with the last one Alex decided to attempt something a little fancier than simply cutting it apart.

Rather than simply taking it down with a single slash the red clad Summon instead came in crouched low beneath the swing of the Valkyrie's spear. A horizontal slash severed both legs completely through just above the knees and the force of the blow sent the construct cart wheeling in the air. In a burst of speed that must have looked unreal to those that were watching Alex stood up bringing his sword up and around so that it stabbed into the construct's back before it even had a chance to start falling to the ground. The force of the impact drove it to the earth and effectively nailed it there as though it were a butterfly on the cardboard of some collector.

The Valkyrie gave a single convulsive twitch, then went still as the magic animating it failed.

Silence reigned in the court as all present stared at what had taken place. To them it was unimaginable, a thing that simply could not be. To them magic was supreme, there simply wasn't any place in their worlds for the thought that a mage could be beaten . . . no, utterly **crushed**, in this manner.

Deliberately allowing a vicious looking grin to spread over his face Alex swung the sword with the impaled construct still on it and sent the metal form flying at Guiche. He didn't use his full strength or speed, as such the earth mage had enough time to squeak in fear and fall to his belly as he avoided the projectile that had been his creation.

"Well boy, is that all that you've got to offer?"

Lying on the ground with the grass staining his ruffled shirt Guiche looked up at the huge figure of his opponent standing above him. A sort of whining moan escaped his throat at the tip of the sword that the crimson clad man held hovered only a millimetre or two from the bridge of his nose.

"I-I yield."

Doing his best to preserve what few shreds of his dignity remained the blond noble accepted his loss as he slowly got off his belly and instead sat down upon the grass as his legs continued to tremble.

"Guiche lost?"

"Whoa, that familiar is awesome."

"Didn't he say he was a warrior in a Holy War? Maybe that's why he's so strong."

As he heard the crowd chattering around him Alex came to a decision. He wanted things to change, so he could start changing things now. Reaching down he picked up the surprised young mage by the back of his shirt.

"Hey! Wh-"

"Now boyo, tell me exactly where you went wrong."

Alex's unexpected demand caught Guiche by surprise and cut off his startled protests.

"I . . . I didn't win?"

The rather weak response drew a bark of laughter from his captor but also a shake of his head.

"Hah! You're right there lad, but that wasn't the first mistake. See here?" he gestured with his free arm to the place where he'd decimated the first Valkyrie, "Sending a single unit ahead as a scout was a good notion. It gave you the chance to test me and get a good idea of what my strengths were."

Dropping Guiche to the ground once more the new Gandálfr turned and waved an arm at the dismembered forms of the other constructs that he had fought.

"But after that you went to pieces boy. As soon as I came at you you panicked and utterly wasted your forces. See there? You can see from where they're lying that you sent all six of them at me in a heads on charge. That would have been the correct response if I had been a weaker foe trying to break through their numbers to get at you on pure speed. However I'd already shown that I was stronger than any one of your troops by a fair margin. The correct response when facing a stronger foe would have been for the weaker units to surround it and attack from multiple directions.

"You should have split your constructs into pairs and come at me from three separate directions. Had you timed their attacks correctly and spaced them in the appropriate manner then I would only have been able to engage a single pair in combat at a time, meaning that the other two pairs would have been free to assault my undefended sides. In such a flanking manoeuvre I would have theoretically been unable to bring my full strength to bear upon any pair properly and they would have been able to bring me down like wolves hunting a bear."

"I-I could have beaten you?"

"No. You never stood a chance, but you could have not lost as badly. Remember this, learn from it, gain strength from it."

Even as he spoke the words Alex couldn't help but marvel that he was actually able to talk like this. He'd never considered himself to be a shy or retiring person, but he did tend to get a bit nervous when doing any sort of pubic speaking. B ranked Charisma ruled. Idly he wondered what he'd ever do if he managed to get home and keep this skill, he could probably make a killing as a motivational speaker.

Right now though he hoped to get Guiche's development into something more than a useless playboy kick started early.

"Well regardless boyo, I trust this will be the end of this disagreement between us? If you want to go again then I'll be more than happy to go, but if you haven't done anything to improve yourself I doubt there'll be any different outcome."

"Y-Yes. Yes I shall improve and the next time we battle it shall be a true duel between men!" declared Guiche, his voice slightly quavering to begin with but growing stronger as he spoke. By the end of it it looked like he might have had an actual backbone in him rather than the temperament of a jellyfish as he had shown earlier.

"That's the spirit!" Alex agreed heartily as he gently slapped the earth mage on the back and sent him stumbling forwards a step or two. "Now I've got to get back to my Summoner, I still owe her some tea after all, and I think that she really should try some of that cake. Be sure to let me know when you want another match."

Spinning on his heel the large red haired man strode towards his small Summoner and the maid that was standing beside her. Both of them were staring at him with mouths gaping open and eyes round with disbelief.

"Shall we go and have some tea now?" he asked.

* * *

-()-

* * *

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

It was quite remarkable how Louise was able to pack so much emphasis onto the single sentence without raising her voice. Idly Alex wondered if it was a skill taught to all nobility or if it was simply a talent of hers.

"How did I do what my Summoner?" he enquired mildly as he held up a cup for Siesta to pour some tea into.

They were currently sitting in the chairs on either side of a small round table in the shade of the School's walls. They had the area largely to themselves as the other students were giving the Zero and her new familiar a wide berth in anticipation of the explosion to come.

The fact that most found the good natured but inexplicably powerful familiar to be intimidating was also a factor in them keeping their distance.

As for Siesta . . . well, if all truth be told she was making Alex feel slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't through any fault of her own; the fact was that the looks of awe and respect that she was directing at him were making him feel a bit self conscious. Not that he had anything against either emotion in regards to himself, the problem was that Siesta was an attractive girl, and her directing such feelings at him so clearly was causing him to wonder if he could meet her expectations of him. Well, that and make him feel a bit shy.

This was ridiculous, he'd been aware that this was the event that would have led Siesta to idolize Saito, an admiration that would eventually lead her to fall in love with him. Yet somehow he hadn't expected the same thing to happen to him as well. After all he wasn't Saito, he wasn't some absurdly lucky idiot with a decent heart that managed to make practically every girl he met fall for him.

Alex had had some romances in his life, as well as a couple of steady girlfriends over the years. His first relationship had ended when he was sixteen due to her having to move away since her father had received a promotion overseas. They'd stayed in touch via emails and telephone, but in the end a long distance relationship had devolved into an easy friendship and both had agreed to a mutual break up. His next girlfriend had been with him for a happy two and a half years, but that relationship had turned sour due to . . . external influences. The break up had been unpleasant for all involved, there were a lot of hurt feelings, unsaid words and sharp shards left afterwards.

The thing was that neither relationship had begun with anything like 'love at first sight' or either of them being smitten with the other. In both cases it had been a sort of growth of friendship into something more. As such he'd never encountered something like this; it was completely outside his frame of reference.

So he was doing his best to keep his emotions as under control as he could, to keep as calm a front up as he could.

"You-You know what I'm talking about! You went . . . swoosh. And then- and chunk, and-and crash and-and . . ."

Apparently the power of articulate speech had deserted Louise as she was reduced to waving her arms in vague gestures and stuttering out sound effects. As he watched her the new Gandálfr wondered what it said about him that he was finding the display to be rather adorable, kind of like watching a young and overexcited child trying to say everything at once.

"Louise, you really should calm down and have some cake. It's very good. Siesta would you be so kind as to introduce me to whoever made this cake later? I'd like to give them my sincerest compliments for having made it."

As the maid nodded the pink haired young mage pretty much goggled at his attitude.

"Cake? CAKE?! Is that what you're thinking about?!"

"It's very good cake."

He was probably being a rather bad Summon to so deliberately be egging her on; the problem was that it was so amusing watching her work up a full head of steam.

"The cake's not important; I don't care about the cake!"

For a moment Alex considered if he should try to get her to say that the cake was a lie. It probably wouldn't be too hard. Still that might be pushing it a bit. Right now he had her almost undivided attention, best not to squander it with idle entertainment.

"What do you want to know?"

The sudden seriousness of his tone seemed to catch her by surprise; however the future Void mage quickly regained her mental footing and calmed herself as well.

"How were you able to beat Guiche so easily?"

"Because I'm a Summon."

Louise's eyes narrowed as she frowned at him and to the side Siesta grew still as she pretended to fuss with the trolley of cake and tea that she was minding.

"And what is a Summon? You don't behave like any familiar I've ever heard of, but then I've never heard of anyone calling a human as a familiar."

Okay, this was it. Ever since he'd woken up this morning he'd been thinking of how to alter the social dynamic between them since he was unwilling to be treated as a familiar. Hell, he didn't even like being called one, it made him feel like a pet or something.

The solution that he'd come up with was to create a new position for himself by the simple expedient of taking the truth, brutally twisting it any which way he needed to and generously sprinkling it with embellishments, half truths and flat out lies.

"Summons are vessels," he began, "we are called to our Summoner's sides and partake of their power. In return for that power we are the allies of those that call us. Sometimes a Summon is a brief thing where the Summoner brings someone or something to their side only for as long as it takes to launch a single attack such as a dragon breathing fire or a swordsman to swing a single sword stroke. Other times the Summon remains at the caller's side for the entire battle as a bodyguard and weapon. And sometimes one that is called will remain at their Summoner's side until either they or their Summoner reach the end of their lives."

He paused there, well aware that both the young women with him were listening to him with rapt attention. He felt a little bad about feeding them this fluff that he was spinning. Really it was just him trying to explain the various Final Fantasy summoning systems along with some influence from Fate/Stay Night. Still he supposed that given that he was in an anime at the moment that there might then be a possibility that the system that he was describing might well be real somewhere.

"Human Summons such as myself are regarded as being on par with the mightiest of Dragons such as mighty Bahamut and powerful Leviathan," he continued, then held up a hand to forestall Louise as she opened her mouth, "Yes, I know that we aren't as impressive as a dragon lord or a ruler of the waves, but there is a reason that we are so highly prized."

Reaching down he picked up a knife off the table and with no apparent effort bent it in two with his thumb and index finger.

"Summons like myself drink of our Summoner's power. That power combines with our own and the result is being that can surpass humanity's limits."

No, wait. He didn't like the way that sounded. Damn, well he couldn't take it back; he'd just have to forge on.

"Summons can possess enormous strength, speed and endurance. We can be like the heroes of legend that battled evil dragons or vanquished entire armies. Or we can be seemingly weak but in possession of a power or skill that makes us far more formidable than we first appear. In the end it is all dependant upon our Summoner."

That had been inspired by a combination of Negima and the Fate series

"How so?" Louise's voice was curious, but at its edges there was a sort of hungry desperation.

Alex could guess at why. Up until this point she had been regarded as one only a slight margin above a magicless commoner. His words hinted at her that even if she was herself unable to use her magic then at least her new familiar could prove that she had power even if she could not use it herself.

"It is said that the more powerful a Summoner then the more powerful their Summon." he answered simply.

It was interesting to see the emotions chase themselves across her face. Surprise, outrage, hope, fear, greed and then finally a sort of weary curiosity.

"You . . . What do you mean? How do you know I'm strong, I haven't shown you anything to prove that."

There was bitterness in her voice as she came to the end.

"I know for one simple reason. Human Summons like me are called in 'Classes' that define the powers and advantages we have. I have been summoned under not one but two classes, something that to the best of my knowledge has never happened before. Such an achievement, as well as the knowledge that I've received from my summoning, means that there is no doubt in me that you possess buried talent that is just waiting to be released!"

His last words were a declaration as he lightly thumped the table for emphasis, causing the tea cups to rattle.

"So . . . so that means that means . . ."

"It means that no matter what your peers may say you are not a failure my Lady. Within you is great power, and you shall learn to use it."

Well, she would if he could make sure she got hold of that prayer book that what's-his-name, the founder, Brimmer something, had left to the royal family. No, even before that. He might not be able to teach her Void magic, but at least he could help her learn to properly aim and use her explosions. After all in both the anime and the novels she'd been able to blast down a wall reinforced with spells that even a giant golem hadn't been able to break. Of course her subsequent blasts had been ineffectual against that same golem, but he was sure that with some training that flaw could be corrected.

As he thought this he noted that Louise was frowning again.

"What did you mean when you said that the knowledge that you'd received from your summoning said I had hidden talent?"

Ah, that had been a question he'd been waiting for.

"Didn't you think it was strange that I was dressed so differently and yet spoke your language? Isn't it odd that though I clearly come from a background far different from the one of this land that I can recognize such places as your school and the Alviss Hall?" he paused long enough to see the eyes of both of the girls widen in surprise before continuing.

"Sometimes when a Summon is carried to a place far removed from his or her own home then the spell and magic that causes the summoning will provide knowledge and information. In my case I can speak the same tongue as you and I know several rather interesting secrets as well."

He'd been thinking about how he could use his knowledge of this world's future to his advantage. There were so many things that Alex knew that could be of use, such as Louise's element, the fact that her fiancée was a traitor, the true identity of Fouquet, the madness of Tabitha's uncle. If he was going to use that information then among other things he would need a believable explanation as to why he had had it in the first place. Being able to claim that it was part of some sort of knowledge cache that the summoning had dumped into his head would cover that nicely.

"Secrets? What Secrets?"

"Ones that I cannot tell you," he replied in response to her eager curiosity, "There are rules in regards to this, certain conditions must be met before I may divulge what I know. If those rules are broken . . . well, the results would be far from pleasant."

This was kind of fun really. Once you got past the guilty naggings of your conscience then you realized that you could pretty much make up anything you wanted so long as you could explain it with enough mystical sounding drivel. Still, he'd best not lay it on too thickly if he wanted to be able to use it again in the future.

"Iskander . . ." there was something in the pink haired noble's posture now, a definite tension that he could easily see. Hell, she was gripping her tea cup hard enough that he was worried it might break in her hand. "Iskander Mest Babylon, will you be my familiar?"

Huh, that was unexpected. In the novels and in the anime she had simply expected Saito to accept his role as a familiar without question. Even when he'd defeated Guiche she had never really doubted his place in that role.

On the other hand he was an all together different kettle of fish than the original hero of the story had been. Saito had been utterly ignorant of his situation and had essentially been utterly dependant upon Louise for such basic needs as food and lodging. Alex, on the other hand, was well aware of what was going on and knew full well the power he possessed. If push came to shove he was quite confident that he could abandon Louise and survive quite fine on his own with just the powers of a Gandálfr to back him up. Throw in the power and skills that he'd received from Rider and all sorts of further opportunities were available to him.

There were other factors too, one of the simplest being that he was physically more imposing by far that an average sixteen year old Japanese school boy. That alone would lead to a better impression, but there were other factors to be considered as well. Saito might have been able to beat Guiche, but when he did so the beatings he'd taken before using his powers as a Gandálfr had left him unconscious for three days and nights, a fact that had probably detracted from the impact of his victory. Alex on the other hand had crushed Guiche in a one sided decimation while not taking as much as a scratch.

Yes, when you took all of that together then it was small wonder that she was treating him a bit differently than what she would have done with Saito.

Excellent, all according to plan.

"No," He watched as his reply hit her like a physical blow, then he smiled to take some of the sting out of his words, "A familiar is something like a cat bound to a mage, and as you can see I am no cat. I will not be a familiar, but I am happy to be your Summon Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. As I said, I shall be your sword and shield and you shall be my wand and staff and together we shall carve out legends."

There was a brief pause as Louise looked at him with an expression that managed to blend both irritation and hope.

"Hmph, what an annoying familiar I've got."

There was no malice to the words, so Alex chose to respond to them with humour.

"Hmph, what an annoying Summoner I've got."

From the side he heard a choked giggle escape Siesta as Louise stared at him wide eyed at his imitation of her. Still the atmosphere was a fairly pleasant one.

* * *

-()-

* * *

It was some time later and Alex was taking his clothes off.

Under most circumstances this wouldn't be something that he did too casually, but since he was about to take a bath it was quite alright.

As a personal habit he preferred to have a shower every day, especially if he'd been working himself to a sweat. While he perspired more by going to the expo than he had while duelling with Guiche it didn't change the fact that he was starting to smell just a tad on the ripe side, hence why he'd sought out the male bathing facilities of the academy.

To the best of his knowledge the male baths had never been depicted in the novels or the anime, unlike the female ones, but as it turned out they were of similar design. A large underground room filled with steam, several stone benches and a single large bath, that was more like a small swimming pool, fed by constant flows of hot water.

At the moment he was the only one there through some good fortune, and as such he fully intended to enjoy it.

Unstrapping the breastplate that he wore he paused to look at it. He'd really have to look into getting some new clothes soon; he couldn't simply continue to wear the same clothes day in and day out. Granted they were pretty cool, but he had no idea of how to properly wash or clean most of the things he was wearing, and he imagined that they'd begin to smell rather strongly after a bit if he didn't do something.

On the other hand he was in an anime, and Saito had always worn the same clothes. Maybe the rules would be different here.

Such thoughts ran through his mind as he undressed, but it was only as he took off the last of his undergarments that something else caught his attention. It started small, as a sort of tingle, but it quickly grew until it became a humming that he could feel down in his bones. Glancing down to the back of his right hand he saw that the book outline that was drawn in scars on his flesh was now . . . glowing?

No, it wasn't just glowing, it was humming in a way that was impossible to just dismiss. What was going on here?

Recalling how the book had appeared on the roof when he'd asked it to he focussed his will upon the mark and mentally asked it to come out.

In response to his unspoken command the scars faded from his skin in a bright flash of light and the large book materialized in the air in front of him. Reaching out Alex took hold of it . . . and then nearly dropped it as the tome snapped itself open and its pages began to turn on their own. He watched in surprise as the pages came to a stop in a place where before the book had refused to open.

On one page was a painted picture of the clothes that he'd been intending to change into after the con. Simple blue jeans, a plain red t-shirt, underwear, socks and trainers, all were carefully depicted and coloured there on the paper. However it was what was written on the page across from it was interesting.

**Spare Clothes.**

_**Unlock condition: Remove all clothes from self.**_

_**Use conditions: None.**_

**Once these clothes have been unlocked then it is possible for Alex to shift between them and whatever clothes he is wearing at the time through an act of will and the application of a tiny amount of Prana.**

**Alex will retain the abilities of whatever Avatar he was wearing before the clothes shifted, but any weapons he might have been equipping will be dismissed when he changes clothes and will need to be resummoned.**

**If the clothes that he was wearing were damaged or unclean then they will be repaired while they wait within the Book of the Sealed. Likewise if these clothes are damaged and then returned to the book then they will be in pristine condition the next time they are called upon as long as a certain amount of time long enough for them to be repaired has passed.**

**It is possible for Alex to add to these clothes; however only a maximum of three full changes of clothes can be stored within the book. After that any newly added clothes will displace their older counterparts. It should be noted that armour or similar defensive or protective garbs do NOT count as spare clothing.**

**Minor items such as limited amounts of money, basic tools and even small weapons such as knives and needles can be counted as part of a set of clothes**

Well now, that was interesting. He now had a name for this tome, the Book of the Sealed, not only that he also had answers to some of his questions.

He'd been wondering why he hadn't been able to access any of the weapons or items that he'd seen the book suck up, and this answered his questions. Apparently there were certain conditions that had to be met before the pages within the book and their contents were unlocked to him. That of course begged the question as to what the conditions were to unlock the other weapons he possessed.

In the past few hours since he'd first read the book he'd been thinking about what it contained and how they might be of use. Some he wasn't too sure of how he would use them, such as the complete custom made Fate/Stay Night's Caster costume that he'd picked up for a friend. While the powers of Medea might well be extremely useful he somehow doubted that his dignity or ego would survive being dressed in her garb, not to mention that if for some reason he was compelled to don them then even trying would probably tear them apart given his frame.

However some of the weapons in there he had no trouble knowing how they could be used. Gae Dearg was an excellent example. In a world where mages were common and magic was regarded as the best weapon humans could possess a spear able to nullify magic and pierce sorcerous defences would be worth more than its weight in perfect flawless gemstones. The problem was how to get it though, given that he had no idea what its unlock condition was.

Shelving such thoughts for the time being Alex focussed on the more immediate concern, namely what had just been made available to him. The page had said that he could shift clothes through an act of will and an application of Prana. So far all the new skills and powers that he'd gained had been easy to control, despite his vastly increased strength he wasn't carelessly breaking things and despite having years of military tactics and strategy stuffed into his head he didn't even have a headache. Following that pattern it shouldn't be too hard to get a handle on this new ability.

It wasn't

In all truth it was something like moving a muscle that he'd not been aware he had. Once he knew it was there all he had to do was _flex _it slightly and . . .

He was back in his normal comfortable clothes just like that. As he rolled his shoulders and enjoyed the feeling of wearing modern fabrics Alex idly noted that this was similar to what Rider had been capable of during Fate Zero when he'd switched from a t-shirt and modern trousers to his battle garb. Another flex of his will and he was back in his unclothed state. He had felt a tiny drain of **something **but it was so minute that he almost missed it. Had that been his Prana?

Willing the Book to change back into the scars on his hand the new Gandálfr turned and slowly walked to the large pool of hot water. This was an interesting new development, one that he'd have to ponder some more. Still all in all he could say that today had been largely well spent. He had impressed Louise, learnt more about what he was capable of and had at least partially solved the mysteries of the strange book that he possessed.

All in all not a bad day.


	4. Chapter 4: Developments

**The various fictional worlds, characters and elements that are written about in this fanfiction belong to their various creators, who I'm too lazy to list. This is purely a fan work and not intended to generate any sort of profit. I know that if it does a fair number of bloodthirsty lawyers are likely to make my life miserable. As always constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored.**

**On an unrelated note I would like to ask that my readers for God Slaying Blade Works please not use the reviews section as a sort of substitute forum. I fully acknowledge that all my readers have the right to review, so long as they observe common courtesy and civility, and I will welcome all constructive criticism. However I think posting messages to one another about your disagreements is perhaps going slightly too far.**

**SPOILERS.**

**Hah, I've done it. I've written a scene where the main character handles female undergarments and **_**doesn't cause a big mess.**_** Not only that I also came up with a believable reason why this should be!**

**Just to clarify; Alex does not have Discernment of the Poor or anything like that. Charisma is defined as one's ability to command an army and I'd guess that one of the necessary parts of doing so would be being able to read the mood of an army and being able to catch subtle cues as to their general disposition. I am working on the basis that such a talent would translate to also being able to read individuals, at least to some degree.**

**It should also be noted that unlike in the canon Alex hasn't been unconscious for several days and Louise hasn't had to use most of her money to purchase a hideously expensive medicine for him, as a result she's got a bit more money to throw about than in the original story.**

**I am well aware that there is nothing in the canon that hints at the different elements effecting Louise's explosions, but my thought was something like this. The reason that Louise was never able to cast any spell properly was that none of the spells she tried were the correct element for her. However I feel that even if that was the case then the element that she was trying to use would at least have some influence on the resulting explosion.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Developments**

All in all Alex felt that he'd managed to spend the last couple of days well, if not as productively as he would have liked.

It had been two days since the duel with Guiche and in that time Alex had been doing his best to make the most of his time. The problem was that he hadn't been entirely successful.

After learning about the unlocking conditions for the various items within his book he had been eager to try to unlock them. Unfortunately after an afternoon of careful contemplation he realized that he had no idea as to what the conditions for the other items might be. The prerequisite to unlock everyday clothing had been to take all his clothes off, fairly simple and logical from a certain point of view. If that was the case then what might be the condition for, say, his ipod? Did he have to learn music? Since it had quite a few audio books then maybe he had to read some books? There were simply too many possibilities.

It was the same with the weapons he'd gained; he had no idea how to unlock them. At the end of the day he simply didn't have enough information to work with.

Aside from that he'd been somewhat distracted by the sudden celebrity status that he'd suddenly gained with the serving staff of the school. If he had thought that the admiration that Siesta had directed at him had been unsettling then he'd found the veritable hero's welcome that he'd received in the kitchen to be flat out shocking. He'd been intellectually aware that Saito had been able to win their hearts with his own victory over Guiche, but it hadn't really occurred to him that the same thing could happen to him. It was a bad habit that he was going to have to work on.

It seemed that even his assertion to being magically empowered hadn't prevented him from being named 'Our Sword' by Marteau the head cook just as Saito had originally been. While being provided with fresh baked bread and positively sumptuous stew for each of his meals had been pleasant he'd found the apparent hero worship to be a bit . . . disquieting.

To offset his feeling of taking advantage of them he'd begun to lend a hand in the kitchen when he had some spare time. Since he wasn't accompanying Louise to her lessons he'd found that after he'd finished learning his way around the academy that he had a fair bit of time on his hands. Having gone to the kitchen to see if he could find someone to talk to and seeing that they seemed to be a bit overworked he'd offered his aid. In the end he'd been assigned to monitor a set of large cooking bowls filled with stew.

To his relief the head cook hadn't been quite as affectionate to him as he had been to the original main character. Maybe it was Alex's slightly more intimidating figure, but for whatever reasons the red haired young man was happy that he didn't have to worry about Marteau trying to kiss his forehead.

Aside from that his friendship with Siesta seemed to be going fairly well. Honestly her clearly high regard for him still left him feeling a bit shy and awkward, though fortunately the Charisma skill that he'd received from Rider helped him keep his unease hidden. In all truth he didn't have any problem spending time with the pretty maid, she was bright, cheerful and had an excellent work ethic that he found himself admiring. He also found himself feeling irritated that the society in which she lived limited her options. Granted she didn't seem to have any sort of problem with her current job as a maid, but he knew from both the books and the anime that her position was subject to the whims of any nobility that might take a liking to her.

Well, for the time being there wasn't too much that he could do about it. With any luck, and if the plan he was slowly putting together worked, then he'd be in a much better position to offer her whatever aid she might need.

All that aside his only other notable achievement had been that he had also made some headway in befriending the familiars of Tabitha and Kirche. In all truth though that had been more of a pleasure than a chore. He was well aware that Sylphid was actually far more intelligent than she let on and actually had a rather adorable childlike personality. Flame on the other hand might be as animalistic as his appearance indicated, but Alex had found that once you got past the fact that he was a fire endowed lizard the size of a tiger he was actually rather like a big puppy.

Both of the familiars had been won over by the food that the kitchen had let the new Gandálfr take to feed them. As it turned out Sylphid was pretty much omnivorous while Flame had fondness for meats and, surprisingly, toasted bread.

And that was what he was doing at the moment. Right now all the students were in class and had left their familiars behind. Unlike Saito Louise wasn't dragging Alex to lessons with her, mainly because the one time she had tried they'd found that his sitting next to her ended up with him looming over her in a rather disquieting manner. Consequently the pseudo Rider had a fair bit of time to spend with the other familiars

"Righto Flame, let's see what you've got."

With a happy 'Geeeeooooww' noise the large red lizard threw itself at the big red head in a sort of enthusiastic belly flop.

Alex was a pretty big guy and he might possess the enormous strength of a Servant, the problem was that even if that was the case it didn't mean that he could be impacted by something about as heavy as an affectionate tiger and not be staggered. To add to this Flame took the opportunity to wrap his stubby limbs around his playmate causing the red haired young man to further lose his balance.

The end result was that the big red lizard bore Alex to the ground croaking happily the entire way.

It seemed that salamanders like the familiar enjoyed a sort of playful wrestling, maybe as some sort of group bonding exercise or to establish some sort of pecking order amongst themselves. Whatever the case may be the young Gandálfr had accidentally stumbled across the fact just yesterday while he'd been petting the big lizard. He'd been scratching the back of Flame's eye crests, a place that the salamander couldn't reach and really liked getting scratched if the happy croaking was anything to go by. Anyway Kirche's familiar had pushed against his hand trying to get some more contact and, mainly as play, Alex had pushed back. Flame had enthusiastically pushed back so forcefully that the self named Summon would have thought him angry if not for the croaking that was his equivalent of a purr.

Long story short the pair of them had entered into a good natured shoving match that had devolved into play fighting. The whole thing had come to an end when Sylphid had come over and picked up Alex with her jaws and pinned Flame under one foot. The new Gandálfr had laughingly announced that 'team red' had fallen to 'team blue' and promised the dragon extra food the next day as a prize. If the trills that the hiding rhyme dragon gave were any indication then she had no particular problem with that outcome.

So here he was again mock fighting with the big red lizard.

"Ha, I've got you now!"

With some effort Alex was able to use his enhanced strength to bodily pick up the tiger sized reptile and lifted him over his head. Had his playfellow been a human then there wouldn't have been much he could have done about it and he could have claimed victory, however Flame wasn't a human and so had some advantages.

As the salamander writhed about in his grip Alex was so focussed on keeping his captive aloft that he was caught completely by surprise when the flaming end of his tail caught him across the back of the head and sent him stumbling forwards.

After a little tentative testing the pseudo Rider had learnt that the fires at the end of Flame's tail were actually illusionary. Certainly they were warm, almost uncomfortably so, but they couldn't cause burns or set things on fire. When he thought about it it made sense, if that hadn't been the case then it was unlikely that Kirche would have been able to keep her familiar in her room without worrying about setting the place on fire.

Because of that Alex didn't suffer any burns, but he did get blinded by the none burning flame suddenly in his eyes and lose his balance and topple over when the salamander wriggled free and came down on top of him.

"Oh, Mr Iskander are you alright?"

His response was somewhat muffled due to the large reptile that was now triumphantly sitting on him and croaking somewhat smugly to itself. With a heave the red haired young man pushed the familiar off him and sat up.

"Ah, hello Siesta. What's up?"

"Err, what were you doing? Were you and Miss Kirche's familiar having a disagreement?"

"Me and this big guy?" Alex asked as he reached out to scratch the salamander behind its crest again causing its croaking to take on a crooning note, "Nah, we were just having a little fun. I think that salamanders like a little rough and tumble and I'm the only fellow that will play with him apart from Sylphid."

Seeing that the maid was carrying a big basket of laundry Alex gave Flame a pat on the head and then stood up.

"Would you like a hand with that? I'm free at the moment so is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well, I do have to pick up another load before I start on washing them," Siesta admitted, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"It's no trouble at all." He assured her as he reached out and took the large wicker basket out of her arms. In his hands the basket that had been burdensome to her sat much more easily.

"So . . . how has Miss Vallière been treating you?" The maid asked, probably as a way of starting a conversation.

"About as well as can be expected I guess," Alex answered with a somewhat pained smile on his face, "I still haven't been able to get a room for myself since as a 'familiar' I'm apparently not entitled to my own accommodations so I'm still having to camp out on my little Summoner's floor. Still, at least she was able to get me a proper bedroll after I told her I didn't quite think straw made for a decent mattress."

"Is-is it really appropriate for you to be sleeping in the same room as Miss Vallière?"

"I assure you that I have been a perfect gentleman," Alex promised her as he leaned down so that Siesta could place another basket on top of the one he already carried, "So unless Louise harbours dark plans to catch me unawares and ravish me against my will there should be no untoward conduct between us."

That drew a giggle from his companion, he could understand why. The image of the tiny Louise lustily assaulting **him**, someone so much bigger and stronger, was absolutely ridiculous.

"Um . . . do you have a lover Mr Iskander? Back in your homeland I mean."

That caught him a bit flat footed, glancing to the side the new Gandálfr saw that Siesta was blushing slightly and steadfastly not looking at him.

"Not really," he admitted as he leaned down so that a third basket could be added to the growing stack that he was carrying. "I was in a . . . relationship for a couple of years and it looked like it might have been leading to something more permanent. But . . . well, things happened, things I don't really want to talk about. By the end of it everyone was hurt and things had been said and done that couldn't be taken back, both by her and by me. We didn't part on good terms and there were lots of jagged edges left lying around afterwards. Since then I really haven't felt ready to even think of trying again y'know?"

"I-I'm sorry I pried."

"Don't worry about it; I suppose talking about it is part of the healing process. Or was it laughing about it? Huh, it's been so long since I studied them I can't remember those old psychology books I read."

"Psy-cholomy?" Even as Siesta placed a fourth basket in his arms he could see her face crease rather cutely in confusion.

"Psychology is the art of understanding the heart and mind and helping them both to heal and function," Alex explained even as he began to mentally work out how to explain the subject in terms that his friend would understand. "For example it's like understanding why a person possesses a paralysing fear of something harmless such as the dark or small spaces. Such fears are normally rooted in something that happened to them such as being caught in a confined space they couldn't escape or having something terrible happen to them in the dark. Once one understands these connections then-"

* * *

-()-

* * *

In the end his amateur explanation of the fine art of the mind healer managed to nicely cover the time it took to collect another two baskets and to cart them all to the courtyard where they were to be washed. Yesterday the red haired young man had tried to help with the washing, but found that both due to his enhanced strength and his own lack of skill he ended up destroying the clothes he tried to wash. After the third ruined shirt Siesta had kindly but firmly told him that he was never going to even try to wash another sock as long as she had anything to say about it.

"-the end it's partly about helping one know oneself better." He concluded as he finished sorting out the clothes.

"Errr, Mr Iskander, don't you mind doing that?"

Siesta's somewhat embarrassed question brought him back to the matter at hand, namely the fact that he was unthinkingly sorting the female undergarments into two piles of light and dark colours.

"Ah. Sorry about that. Back when I was still living with my family one of my chores was to be in charge of the laundry, and since I have an older and a younger sister . . ."

He left it at that and was glad to see the maid nod her head in understanding.

Honestly he was rather grateful for her understanding. In too many anime it was a common gag that as soon as a male character somehow got hold of some female undergarments general pandemonium would ensue due to either their own shyness or lechery or from some female character coming across them at just the wrong moment. While Alex could appreciate sexy lingerie on an attractive female as much as the next guy he supposed years of hanging up his family's underwear to dry had inured him to them somewhat.

Still, rather eager to change the subject Alex mentally cast around for something else to say.

"You know . . . you don't have to call me 'Mister' it'd be fine for you just to call me by name."

"Well, thank you . . . Iskander. Normally I have to do several trips in order to get all the baskets, with your help I've been able to do them all in one go and that'll save me lots of time."

"Glad to be able to help." the pseudo Rider grinned as he stood up and leaned against a wall.

Idly he noted that the crimson and golden furred mantle that he wore felt oddly comfortable to wear even though it wasn't like any kind of clothing that he'd worn in the past. Despite having regained his casual clothes Alex had elected to continue to wear the garb which he had arrived in since he wished to keep his ability to suddenly change what he was wearing a secret.

"-skander?! Where are you? Iskander?!"

The loud voice of his Summoner broke into his thoughts as she came round the corner that led into the courtyard where he and Siesta were. It was obvious that she had just left her lessons because she was still carrying her books rather than having returned them to her room.

"Oh, hello Louise. What brings you here?"

"I was looking for you of course. Why weren't you waiting for me outside the classroom? As my fami-" Her eyes suddenly widened and her tirade cut off, only to start again a moment later. "As my **Summon** you should have been ready to help me as soon as I was finished with my studies."

The small girl was trying to project an air of confidence and superiority, however small tells in her posture and movements gave away her nervousness. Alex had always been decent at picking up on such hints, but since his acquiring the Charisma skill he'd found the talent had improved. That had come as something of a surprise since to the best of his knowledge that hadn't been how the skill worked in the various Fate series, still he had no intention of questioning good fortune too much.

"My thanks for using the correct form of address my Summoner," He began, his voice warm but as firm as he could make it, "But we have talked of this. I am neither a hawk to perch on your wrist nor a dog to follow at your heel, I shall not simply wait at the door to your classroom for you without any reason save that you might want to converse with me."

"B-B-But," The expression upon his Summoner's face was a curious mix of irritation, embarrassment and a couple of other emotions that the dimensionally displaced young man couldn't place, "But I was hoping that you could . . . you know?"

"That I could . . . what?" Alex asked in honest confusion.

"You know . . . that thing you promised to help me with. Don't make me ask, it's embarrassing."

He blinked, then made the connection. Ah, she was asking for help with her magic? Well he could see that, he had been emphatic about his belief that she had potential and some of his words could be taken as allusions to being able to help her reach it. He admittedly did have some ideas in that regard, but he would have preferred to have had some more time to work on them before putting them into practice.

Oh well, no time like the present.

"I understand," he said with a nod of his head, "We'll need to go somewhere private, but I think what I've come up with should more than satisfy you."

"Good!" Alex found himself to be somewhat surprised by the sheer vehemence of that single word, then her expression turned somewhat vulnerable, "I need this. I **need **it!"

The new Gandálfr was trying to think of something suitably supportive to say when he became aware of a loud gasping noise coming from behind him. Turning he saw that Siesta had both her hands pressed to her mouth and was flushing scarlet.

"Siesta? What's wrong?"

The questions came out with definite concern given that the expression on her face was one of clear shock.

"You . . . and Miss Vallière . . . I-I had no idea that you'd become so-so close . . ."

For a moment Alex could only stand there in confusion and wonder what she was talking about, then he mentally reviewed the short exchange that he'd just had with Louise and the metaphorical penny dropped. Yes, when heard out of context it was quite likely that what they'd said could be misconstrued to have more . . . amorous meanings than it actually did. Indeed, it made it sound like she did intend to ravish him after all.

It took all his mental discipline not to blush and stammer out the first denial that came to mind. He had to be rational about this, he had-

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

Ah, it seemed that his small Summoner had also come to the same conclusion he had, however unlike him she wasn't making any attempt to reign in her panicked embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry Miss Vallière, I-I know it's none of my business. I'll j-just-"

Faced with an apparently angry noble the maid was trying to do the smart thing and get out of the local area. However both her retreat and her stuttered apology were cut off as Alex laid a firm but gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding here Siesta, my Summoner was asking for me to aid her in getting a handle on her magic, not anything . . . untoward. I perfectly understand how you could have misunderstood what we said; our choice of words was a bit on the unfortunate side."

Turning to Louise he did his best to smile confidently despite him still feeling more than a bit off balance.

"I have some idea as to what we can do to learn a bit more about what's going on with your magic. Let's first drop off your books at your room then we can stop by the kitchen for a few supplies. Once we're done there we'll head out somewhere nearby to work through a few of my ideas and see how they turn out."

"What . . . now?"

Louise seemed to be a bit taken aback by his decision to have at the task immediately, so much so that her earlier embarrassment seemed to have been forgotten.

"Why not? I've got some ideas and you seem to be eager enough. Let's go for it."

"Oh . . . Alright."

* * *

-()-

* * *

In the end Siesta was able to head to the kitchen and get the things they needed while Alex and Louise dropped her things off at her room. She was waiting for them at the main gate out of the Academy with the items that the red haired young man had requested.

"Here you are Iskander," she said as she handed each of the items to him in turn, "A large water skin, an old pot that we were planning to get rid of, an old butcher's cleaver and a haunch of uncooked beef."

A look of slight worry overtook her as she cast her eyes at the last item.

"Mr Marteau was able to get it for me, but he says he'll need to charge it to Miss Vallière since it's too big to simply overlook."

"I can cover it easily," His little Summoner declared, "But are you sure we need it Iskander?"

"Definitely!" He answered with a sharp nod of his head, "For this to work we're going to need as large a piece of meat as we can take with us."

In his head the plan was coming together. The basic problem was how to help Louise without revealing to her that he knew her Element and that it was the reason that her spells weren't working. The simple fact was that right now there wasn't enough of a bond of trust between them for her to believe him if he told her the truth. If he were to do so right now then her reactions could range from simple disbelief to her dismissing him in a fit of outrage to her declaring him a heretic and trying to have him executed. All in all those were situations that he was trying to avoid.

Still he had to do something to help her, and that had been where this plan had sprung from.

First though . . .

"So where shall we go for . . . whatever you have planned?"

A quick glance around showed that while the academy was situated in a valley there were still some woods fairly close by.

"Over there, it's far enough away to grant us some privacy and also far off enough that the explosions won't disturb anyone."

Louise followed his stare and narrowed her eyes as she mentally evaluated how long it would take to get there.

"We'll need to go by horse if we want to be able to get there and back with any time to spare. There should be a few mounts in the stables that we can use. Although I'm not sure if any of the horses will be big enough for you to ride, they're meant for students and staff after all. And if any of them can't carry a knight in armour then I don't think they could carry you."

And that nicely brought up a thought that Alex had been mulling over ever since the duel with Guiche.

Right now his Summoner only had the vaguest idea of what he was truly capable of. Sure she was aware that he was stronger and faster than even a man of his clearly excellent condition should be capable of, but even then she didn't know the full extent of what he could do. Up until now he'd been secretive because he had wanted to keep as many of his options open as he could, but if he wanted her to trust him he'd need to first offer her some of his own trust.

Glancing back he saw that Siesta hadn't left yet, instead she was standing at the gates watching them, probably planning to wave them goodbye when they left or something like that. After thinking it over for a second he raised one arm and waved her over.

She'd been there when he had explained his largely made up status and abilities to Louise, and quite frankly out of all the people he'd interacted with since arriving in this strange world she was the one that he considered closest to being a friend. It somehow felt right to include her in this.

"There will be no need for horses my little lady," he told the pink haired girl, "I think that it's time for me to show you a bit more of what your Summon can do."

Taking one more look around to make sure there weren't any casual eavesdroppers listening in Alex strode a short way from the academy's wall as he spoke to the two young women that were following him.

"There are many kinds of human Summons, but the kind that are relevant to what I'm about to show you are those known by the misleadingly simple title of Servants.

"Make no mistake despite the simple title Servants are among the deadliest of all human Summons that exist. They are the mightiest swordsmen that defeat dragons, they are the sharpest archers that always strike their mark, they are the greatest mages that level entire cities. Servants are regarded as some of the most desirable Summons that can be gained.

"Now Servant Summons are divided into several 'Classes' that designate their abilities and styles. Those are Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Berserker, Caster and Assassin. There are also unconventional Classes such as Avenger, Saver, Launcher and Player, but those are extremely rare and regarded as somewhat unstable compared to the prime seven classes."

They were a fair distance out in the fields now and a goodly way from the main road that led to the academy. Alex was well aware that it was entirely possible that the Headmaster and Colbert were observing him using magic. If his memory served him right then at this point they were aware that he was a Gandálfr, but were keeping it to themselves and observing him. Well, both of them were decent enough, as long as one overlooked their more glaring personal flaws, so if they saw what he had planned he was okay with it.

"Now Servants are all extremely skilled in their chosen areas," He continued as he came to a halt. Both the girls were still following him with looks of interest on their faces and Louise didn't seem to have a problem with Siesta being there. "However it is not merely their skills that make them so formidable and sought after. Every Servant has at least one Noble Phantasm, and it is these that are the trump cards that place Servants in a league of their own.

"Noble Phantasms are weapons or abilities that are part of a hero's legend, like a hero that has gained skin that no sword can cut or a spear that never misses its target. Servants take such legends and elevate them from mere stories into true crystallized miracles that can actually do what the legends say.

"Of course they can't do this alone, and that is where the Summoner comes in. As the Servant partakes of their Summoner's magic so does the Noble Phantasm partake of the Servant's magic in turn. As such it is only when partnered with a Summoner that a Servant can use their power to its full potential.

"Now you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this, the reason is that it's directly related to me.

"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be qualified to play the part of a Servant, meaning that normally if I was a Summon I would be of the Knight type or maybe a Pactio. However you've managed to summon me as TWO classes Louise and one of them was the Servant Class of Rider. And that means that I've gained a Noble Phantasm suitable to that Class."

Okay this was what he'd been planning to show them. If he wanted his Summoner to . . . trust? Respect? Admire? He wasn't quite sure how he wanted the relationship to go; if all three emotions could be reached it would probably be best. And regardless of which he was aiming for it would probably do her fragile ego some good if she was aware of just how powerful he could be.

Taking several steps away from the pair of young women while gesturing for them to stay where they were Alex drew the sword from his belt and lifted his arm to swing the blade at the empty air. As before he could feel the power in him, a barely restrained force that eagerly waited for the chance to manifest itself. He could feel it running up his arm and surging into the sword that he held, just waiting for him to bring the blade down so that it could take that last step.

"This is the Noble Phantasm of the Rider Iskander Mest Babylon; the Gordius Wheel!"

With a single swing of his sword he cut at the air in front of him.

The results were all he could have wished for and more.

It was as though the sword stroke had travelled forward and cut a tear in the very fabric of space. For an instant the tear just hung there, in bold defiance of conventional reason, then blue lightning crackled along its edges. The bolts multiplied at a ferocious rate as though they were feeding and strengthening one another. In the space of only a few heartbeats they had gone from running along the edge of the tear to being a huge seething halo of electric energy around its rim.

"Wha-"

Whatever Louise's question might have been was cut of as the tear suddenly contracted and the lightning halo was released in a single huge and blinding bolt of force. The thunderbolt struck the ground with such force that the force of its impact knocked both girls off their feet and threw up a huge cloud of dust. Alex, being larger, heavier and more prepared for what was to come, remained on his feet and simply turned to the side so he could look at both the girls as well as the spot where the lightning had stuck.

"WHAT WAS . . . that . . . Is . . . kan . . . der?"

The tiny future Void mage had leapt to her feet and begun to yell at her Summon, but the volume and displeasure of her voice trailed off as she saw what was being revealed by the settling cloud of dust.

It was a chariot, at least technically. To those that looked at it one could say that the name was as fitting as calling a great and proud lion a cat, technically correct but nowhere near to the reality.

He'd seen pictures of it on the internet and had watched the Fate Zero episodes online, but to see it in reality, now that was something completely different.

It was, in a word, magnificent. The two huge wheels, the rotating spikes, the great blades on the sides, the brilliant red and blue harnesses of the bulls and of course the bulls themselves. Oh, how to describe those creatures.

Though mainly a town-dwelling guy Alex's hometown wasn't too far away from the more rural areas of the country and during the summer he sometimes took long walks out through the farmlands via the public footpaths. Given that cattle were in a fair number of the fields that he'd passed he could confidently say that he was more familiar with what a real bull looked like than most would be.

The great creatures that were yoked to the chariot didn't so much look like real bulls as they did the **idea** of bulls. Real bulls didn't have such obviously bulging muscles or such elegantly curving horns. They also weren't so large or broad. And above all else real bulls didn't have crackling lightning arcing about their hooves.

The new Gandálfr gazed at the great vehicle before him and exerted every ounce of his will to remain composed, however beneath his stoic exterior he was to all intents and purposes dancing with glee.

It was here, it was really here. Gordius Wheel, the Wheel of Heaven's Authority, the principle Noble Phantasm of his favourite Servant and an Anti-Army weapon able to reduce huge parts of cities to scorched rumble in less than an hour.

And it was **his**.

He could feel the connection, feel it with an absolute certainty that he couldn't have totally described if someone had paid him a fortune to do so. He just knew that he could ride this chariot, that the bulls would obey his commands and that the powers of the Noble Phantasm would answer his call.

"I . . . Iskander, w-what is that?"

Siesta seemed to be the first to recover the power of speech after seeing just what it was that had appeared before them. The maid had been knocked onto her rump by the shockwave of the chariot's summoning and was now sitting in a rather undignified position, but right now that seemed to be the last thing on her mind. Instead she was staring wide eyed at the Noble Phantasm as arcs of lightning still sparked off it.

"As a Rider I must have some form of vehicle, mount or charger, this is mine. Magnificent is it not?"

The pseudo Servant took great satisfaction in the looks of awe that were now plastered upon the faces of both the young women before him.

"I told you that the power of the Summon reflected the power of the Summoner Louise, do you still doubt my words that you hold great potential within you?"

His pink haired Summoner could only shake her head wordlessly in reply even as she was unable to tear her eyes away from the mighty vehicle of battle that now stood before her.

"Very well then," Alex declared as he sheathed his sword and stepped towards the chariot, "We should be on our way now."

In response to his words Louise took an uncertain step towards the Noble Phantasm, but Siesta instead shook her head.

"I-I've still got work to do, I can't just leave it or there will be questions about what I've been doing."

The red haired young man frowned at that.

"Could you not simply explain that you were aiding one of the students with their research?"

"It's . . . frowned upon for the staff to get involved with the students, there have been . . . incidents in the past and I don't want rumours to get started."

He blinked at that, then his mind connected the dots. If Siesta were to disappear for some length of time and then return claiming that she'd spent it with him and Louise then there was a chance that _unsavoury _rumours might get started about what they had been up to. Most likely the staff wouldn't lend much credence to such suggestions since both he and Siesta were both well liked by those that tended to the duties of the academy. However if such talk were to be heard by the management then there was a chance that the maid might lose her post.

That brought a frown to his face. In the future of the series Siesta had been a sort of fixture and had retained her position despite having been involved in several of Saito's misadventures. He supposed that by that point the maid had become more secure in her position due to effectively having become the personal maid to Louise and her familiar. Right now though she had no such security.

Seeing Alex somewhat reluctantly nod his head Siesta flashed him a grateful smile.

"You can tell me about how you're going to help Miss Vallière later when you get back," She told him, "I look forwards to finding out what you have in mind."

With a quick bow to the young noble the maid turned and started to make her way back towards the school. However Alex noted that even as she did so she cast frequent glances at them over her shoulder.

"Well, are you going to join me Louise?"

He tried to say it as nonchalantly as possible as he stepped onto the chariot and took the reins in hand.

"W-What? W-We're going in that?! B-But wouldn't horses be faster? It's magnificent but those bulls can't go as fast as horses . . . can they?"

Reaching out the young pseudo Servant lightly grasped her wrist and pulled her onto his Noble Phantasm in a gentler imitation of Rider's action to his own Master in the opening credits of the Fate Zero anime.

"You don't think that a mystic vehicle of this calibre would be so simply analysed do you? Let me show you part of what it's capable of."

Alex had never in his entire life properly ridden any animal, the one time he'd been on a horse's back had been more of a case of him simply sitting there and trying not to fall off as the animal was led along by someone else. It had taken him four weeks and quite a number of scrapes and bruises before he'd learnt to properly ride a bike and he'd nearly crashed his driving instructor's car more than four times before he finally learnt how to drive with any level of competence.

All in all Alex might have talent in a number of areas, but when it came to riding any sort of vehicle or mount he was well aware that he had all the natural aptitude of an unconscious baboon.

Which was why he couldn't help but grin like a jack'o lantern when he found that the correct way to stand in the chariot, the right way to hold the reins, the best way to direct the bulls, it was all right there in his mind as clear and natural as was the knowledge of his own name. And it wasn't just this mode of riding either, he could ride horses, camels, elephants, griffins, manticors, hell if he wanted to he was sure he could probably fly a jumbo jet.

This was A+ rank Riding? This was definitely something he could get used to.

With his small Summoner now grasping the edge of the chariot's rim and peering out over it like a child over a kitchen top he decided that now was as good a chance as any to start. With one flick of the long leather reins in his hands the bulls were moving and the Gordius Wheel was rumbling forwards. At first its movements were slow, but the bulls quickly picked up speed and before long they were charging along as fast as a galloping horse.

"Th-This is quite fast," admitted Louise as she held onto the edge and tried to maintain a calm demeanour. "L-Like this we should reach the woods in just a few minutes."

"Oh?" Had anyone been in a position to look at his face they would have seen the new Gandálfr's smile widen until it showed his teeth in a slightly predatory fashion, "Then what if I do this?"

Once more he cracked the reins that he held, but this time he felt a definite surge of **something** flow from himself to the chariot he was riding and the bulls that were pulling it. The sensation was slightly similar to the tiny drain that he'd felt when he used his new ability to shift clothes, the difference being that this time the feeling was sharper, more noticeable.

The drain stopped almost as soon as it began, just a single sharp shot rather than a continuous drain. He could feel that a portion of the reserves of what he guessed was his Mana pool was gone, but it was only a small portion of it and already he could feel it being refilled.

All thoughts of that were banished from his mind though as he saw what his Noble Phantasm was doing.

As easily as though driving along a concrete road both bulls and the chariot were now running upon empty air. Even as the vehicle and the beasts pulling it rose into the sky their speed increased until the woods that had previously been still far off were now drawing near at a fast clip.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-WH-WHAT IS THIS?!"

Louise's shrill scream of both fear and confusion ripped through the air even as the flying chariot angled itself towards the ground and began to thunder down like a descending comet. On seeing the grass covered ground rushing to meet them at such terrifying speed the youngest of the Vallière sisters had only time for one wordless scream of inarticulate fear before she ducked behind the scant shelter offered by the side of the chariot.

With a thunderous thud the wheels of the Noble Phantasm struck the ground and both the hooves of the beasts and the wheels of the vehicle trod groves into the grass as they slowly bled off speed and came to a rest at the edge of the wooded area that Alex had pointed out only a few minutes before.

"We have arrived my Summoner, you can get up now, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Once more the young man was doing his best to be as nonchalant as possible when in truth what he really wanted to do was break out into gleeful, and slightly hysterical laughter if he was being honest with himself, laughter while literally dancing for joy. As far as he was concerned that had been awesome beyond words, more fun than even the most sophisticated rollercoaster he'd ever been on. Right now he dearly would have loved to simply leap back into the chariot and take it through the craziest manoeuvres he could think of simply to experience the rush of it. However he ruthlessly suppressed the urge to do so.

Right now he had to present a suitably calm and casual air to the future Void mage.

"Wh-Why didn't you tell me it could fly?!"

The demanding question was practically snarled at him as the pink haired young girl staggered out of the chariot on wobbly legs.

"I thought it might be more interesting to simply show you." Alex answered with a completely straight face.

"You . . . You . . ." words seemed to fail Louise as she glared at him as though she could force him to spontaneously combust by sheer force of will if she tried hard enough. "I've never ridden anything so terrifying in my life . . . and I've ridden on griffins."

"Well Louise, I can hardly be held at fault for the fact that up until this point all your rides have been so tepid."

His small Summoner simply goggled at him in speechless disbelief.

"Anyway, there's no time to waste on that. Let's get started on finding a suitable spot for my ideas."

Turning away from her the pseudo Rider strode into the woods.

"Hey, hold on!" Louise called behind him as she dashed to catch up, "Hey you big lummox, wait for me!"

* * *

-()-

* * *

It didn't take them long to find what he was hoping for, a large clearing surrounded by trees and with a nice open space right in the middle. There were even a couple of recently felled trees that could easily be modified to serve his purpose.

"Yes," he said to both Louise and the world in general, "This will be just perfect."

"So . . . what will we do now?"

"Hold on a moment, I've just got to get a couple of things ready."

As he spoke Alex walked over to the downed trees as he drew his sword. Backed by the enhanced strength that had been endowed upon him it was only the work of a few seconds for him to strip of the branches and chop the relatively thin trunk into a number of evenly sized logs. Sheathing his swords and picking up a log in each hand he turned back to his Summoner.

"Now I said that I believed that you had potential and when I said that I spoke the truth. You've asked me for help and I'll be honest, I'm no mage and so I haven't got that much of a clear idea of how to help you."

Seeing Louise's shoulders slump he dropped one log and held up a hand to forestall her.

"**However **. . . I do possess some knowledge of how other mages have trained in the past as well as some knowledge that we might be able to apply in this situation."

Well, that might have been stretching the truth a bit. Still he had watched a number of anime where the main characters went through bizarre or absurd training in order to achieve their ends. In addition to that he had his own basic knowledge of scientific testing and investigation, surely with a little imagination both could be used in this case.

It had been that line of thought that had led to his current plan, and as far as he could see it was the best that he could do for now without revealing that he was aware of his Summoner's true elemental affinity.

"What we are going to use is called scientific investigation, and we are going to employ it to expand our knowledge of just what your magic is capable of."

"It makes explosions," Louise's voice sounded morose and also slightly petulant, "What else do I need to know?"

"Are the explosions caused by wind spells larger than those caused by earth spells? How far away can you create an explosion? Can you deliberately make an explosion larger? Can you make it smaller? Do all spells of an element cause the same kinds of explosion or would a transmutation spell make a bigger one than a repair spell? Can you make the explosions louder if you want to? Can you vary how much smoke do they produce?"

In the face of the sudden onslaught of questions the pink haired young mage could only stand there with her mouth hanging open.

"You see? You don't know, and if you don't have the answers to those questions then how can you advance? Well today we will take the first steps to dispelling our ignorance and shedding light upon your hidden potential!"

That last bit came out as a forceful declaration, but somehow the enthusiasm behind it proved infectious because a sort of determined smile found its way onto Louise's face.

Thank you B rank Charisma.

Reaching down with his free hand he picked up a stone off the forest floor, one about the size of a small apple. With a nod to himself he carried it and the log he held in his other hand out into the clearing until he stood more or less in the middle. Once there he placed the log so it was standing upright and then balanced the stone on top of it. He then made his way back to the chariot and pulled out a blank parchment and a quill pen. Granted he'd have preferred to have a common biro, but at least the quill had been spelled to not need to be constantly dipped in an ink pot.

"Okay Louise, try to transmute that stone from as far away as you can."

"You . . . you normally need to be close to the thing that you're transmuting though." Louise protested.

"Do you want to be close when it explodes? I don't think you can afford to total too many more uniforms you know."

Unable to think of a protest to her Summon's rebuttal the pink haired mage drew her wand and pointed it at the rock.

"Rel. In. Yan."

The results were pretty much what Alex had been expecting, the rock glowed briefly with a bright light, then it exploded as though someone had replaced it with a stick of TNT. As the explosion went off he was careful to step in front of his small Summoner so as to protect her from any flying debris, though as it turned out the move was unnecessary.

"Well, you see? That's how all my spells turn out."

Glancing down he saw that Louise's earlier enthusiasm had disappeared in the face of her usual disastrous result. Fortunately he had a plan as to how to re-engage her interest.

"Yes, and it's quite interesting. Do you see there? Even though there has been a powerful blast and lots of smoke there is no actual sign of any burning. Also take a note of the actual shape that the blast produced, the log that the stone was on is still standing and is itself only slightly damaged while the area around it is pretty much devastated."

As he made each of his observations Alex was careful to make large and eye catching gestures that drew the attention of his audience and seemed to heighten his own enthusiasm. It appeared to be working because the future Void mage was now not looking so much depressed as she was surprised. Now he just had to keep it up.

"I can think of a number of uses for such an effect, granted you'd need a bit more control, but there's definitely some use to be had from such."

"It . . . could be useful?" Louise sounded honestly surprised at the idea that the result of one of her faulty spells could be of value. "How?"

"Well . . . let's say that someone of importance has been taken hostage, say . . . a princess," Alex was well aware that the Princess of Tristain was someone to whom Louise was totally loyal. This worked to his advantage now as at the mention of her being in danger his small Summoner's full attention snapped onto him like the sights of some sort of weapon. Good, he had her attention now to see if he could make use of it. "Her captors are holding her at wand point and if anyone moves against them then they will slay her. With a spell effect like yours you could cast it upon something that the princess is wearing such as a fan that she might be holding or something like that. The blast, if you can control it properly, would let you blast away all of the hostage takers while only dealing light damage to the princess's dress.

"Just imagine," he continued, his tone becoming honeyed and compelling, "**You **would have saved the princess from certain doom when no others could. Don't you think that's something useful?"

Louise's answering nods of agreement were so rapid and enthusiastic that Alex was genuinely concerned that she might hurt her neck.

"Right then, on to the next experiment." He declared as he reached back into his chariot once more, this time drawing out the large old pot and the water skin.

Making his way over to where the log had fallen over he righted it once more then placed the pot on top of it like he had the stone before. As soon as he was sure that it was properly balanced the red haired young man lifted up the water skin and poured its contents into the pot until it was full.

"Right then," he said as he made his way back to the side of his Summoner, "This time I want you to cast a spell on the water in the pot. Make sure it's a water spell, but apart from that it doesn't matter if you try to move the water or change its colour, just so long as it's a water element spell."

With a nod Louise turned to the pot and raised her wand.

* * *

-()-

* * *

Well, that had been interesting.

Alex reached down and gently picked up his sleeping Summoner as his Noble Phantasm faded away behind him in response to his will.

It had been a long day. After the experiment with the water and the pot had been a basic air spell cast at the same general area as the first two spells, then a fire spell at the log that had somehow still survived. Once that was over they'd moved onto seeing what effect casting spells on the haunch of beef that they'd brought along. The beef had held up to three such experiments without falling apart, but in the end it had been the young Vallière's attempt to cast a healing spell upon it that had caused the haunch to melt into an unrecognizable mess of liquefied meat. After that they'd moved on to seeing what effects her attempts at a sharpening spell would have on the old knife Alex had brought for testing.

Well, at least that had shown that if ever Louise was in a position where someone was threatening her with a weapon then the only thing she needed to do in order to reduce it to little more than a blunt slab was to try and sharpen it.

However as the experiments had continued and her Summon had pointed out various practical applications for each resulting explosion Louise had grown more and more enthusiastic. He supposed it was understandable since this was pretty much the first time that someone had had anything positive to say about the unfortunate results of every spell she cast. The fact that Alex always used either saving the princess or smiting her enemies as an example of how the explosions could be of any use also went a long way towards her motivation.

Of course the range of his experiments had been limited by the resources available to him, for example he hadn't been able to conduct any more tests into water spells after Louise blasted the pot into useless scrap metal. However he'd managed to get plenty of data before that and even after all the things he'd brought with him had been reduced to debris there had still been plenty of stones and wood to work with.

Enthused by finally seeing some sort of results in regards to her magic his pink haired Summoner had continued to cast one spell after another at branches and stones following his directions of just what she should be trying to achieve. The end result had been that what he'd originally planned to be only a single hour of experimentation had turned into just over three hours of near constant casting. That had in turn led to Louise nodding off in exhaustion during their return trip to the academy.

Still, all in all the pseudo Servant thought that things had turned out pretty well.

This little excursion had definitely helped establish his credentials with Louise as well as build the beginnings of a bond between them. In the 'canon' storyline Saito and Louise had started to show signs of attraction and friendship pretty early on, though her tsundere tendencies and his lecherous streak always seemed to derail any progress that was made. The relationship that he hoped to build was more of a friend/teacher one rather than any sort of romantic bond because, in all honesty, she wasn't his type even if he had been looking for romance at this time.

With a shake of his head he dismissed such thoughts for now and turned his mind back to the results of their research today.

One thing that he'd been very interested to discover was that while any attempt by Louise to use any of the elements invariably produced an explosion those explosions weren't just random, there was a definite correlation between them and the type of element used. For example attempts to use earth resulted in 'hollow' explosions, blasts that radiate outwards but left an almost untouched centre. On the other hand if Louise tied to use water magic to move the contents of the liquid in the pot the result always seemed to be an explosion that went straight up rather than to the sides. Of course water had been the element that they'd been able to practice the least

Wind spells had been interesting in the explosions they produced were the noisiest and the smokiest, but at the same time were the weakest in terms of general force. Fire on the other hand produced the most powerful explosions, but the results were unstable, one time the explosion might be strong enough to reduce the targeted log to tiny splinters, then the next time the explosion might barely knock the log over.

Alex had a theory about that, one that he'd developed after carefully examining the various blasted logs. He suspected that the explosions that resulted from fire spells weren't as simple as they first appeared to be; rather they were actually implosion/explosions. It was the only way that he could explain how some of the targets were not only blasted apart but also crushed at the same time. It also went some way to explaining the unreliable power output of the explosions, after all if the implosion wasn't suitably balanced then the energy would end up working against itself rather than producing an explosion afterwards.

All in all he could already see a number of ways in which the results they had found could be of some use. One example would be for her to cast a spell of water at the feet of her target and then letting the upwards blast send them flying.

"Heh, Dill Brand." Alex muttered to himself as he remembered those old Slayers cartoons that he'd been so fond of back when he was twelve. Back then there hadn't been too many anime series available in full in the UK, so he'd had to get the box set shipped over from America and then had to buy a special multi-region capable DVD player. In the end the first Slayers season had been the first complete anime that he'd ever owned, and as such held a special place in his heart.

Hmmm, flat chest, quick temper, propensity for explosions . . . was it just him or did his little Summoner possess more than a few similarities to Lina Inverse? Now that was a thought both interesting and worrisome. On the one hand it would be cool if she could start throwing around explosions left and right with deadly accuracy and competency. Alternately he was pretty sure that if she figured out how to duplicate a Dragon Slave then C rank Magic Resistance wasn't going to be enough to save him.

Still it was an amusing thought; Louise Vallière, the natural enemy of all living things . . . and possibly some undead ones as well if he remembered the canon correctly.

"Mmmya."

The wordless mumblings of the small girl in his arms brought the new Gandálfr out of his musings and back to the situation at hand. He was now at the main gates of the academy and the sun was just starting to go down. He planned to first make his way to Louise's room, rouse her from her sleep so she could go to bed, then he'd make his way to the kitchens to meet up with Siesta, get a bite to eat and catch her up on what had happened today.

Had he been paying a bit more attention he would have noticed that the thin scar lines on the back of his right hand that made up the form of an open book were now glowing with a soft white light.


	5. Chapter 5: Encounters

**The various fictional worlds, characters and elements that are written about in this fanfiction belong to their various creators, who I'm too lazy to list. This is purely a fan work and not intended to generate any sort of profit. I know that if it does a fair number of bloodthirsty lawyers are likely to make my life miserable. As always constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be ignored.**

**Well here's my longest Why Me? chapter to date. I originally intended it to only be 10,000 words long, but as with my other works it just kept on growing on me.**

**One thing a number of my reviewers have mentioned is that Alex seems to be a bit overpowered for his settings. Well the fact is that for the moment he **_**is **_**and is so by design. I mean right at the moment he's in the Academy, apart from Colbert, Tabitha and **_**maybe **_**Old Osmond (He's described as wise and powerful but to the best of my knowledge he doesn't actually use that power in a combative way at any time in the series.) there isn't anyone that could be a conceivable threat to him.**

**Rest assured I have no intention of giving him a free and easy run; he'll be facing foes and situations that will be very challenging, if not insurmountable. Also I don't plan to slavishly follow canon, as with God Slaying Blade Works I am simply trying to get to a specific spot, then the story is leaving the rails and following a path of my own design.**

**SPOILERS.**

**In all truth I'm not entirely happy with how the scene between Alex and Kirche went. I got it as well as I could, but I freely admit that scenes of romance are something I don't have too much experience at writing, so sorry if it isn't up to my usual standards. I also hope that Alex's character hadn't come across as too . . . played up, I admit that it was very difficult to write that bit, but I did do my best.**

**One of the main parts of this chapter has been my attempt to build up a bit more character depth for Kirche. As with many of the characters her personality didn't translate well from the novels to the anime. Really in the books she was far more interesting; however the anime reduced her to pretty much walking fan service and sex appeal. I suppose that if I'm being charitable I must concede that some of her more subtle qualities would be a bit difficult to portray on the screen, but even so I'm still disappointed.**

**I have read several fanfics that have written her quite well as her own character, and I am drawing on both those works and the original novel in my own attempts. I hope that my efforts turn out well and that I don't inadvertently plagiarize anyone. My apologies if it is also somewhat awkward, but this isn't something I have much experience in writing so I ask my readers to bear with me.**

**I hope that the unlocked items and new Noble Phantasms of this chapter prove interesting. I'm sure everyone was expecting Derflinger to be a Noble Phantasm, but I'm pretty sure that the other one will come as a surprise. It was born of me thinking that the lower ranked Noble Phantasm appeared to be a bit on the rare side, and that got me to thinking of just what abilities would be suitable for an even lower ranked one. I have a few plans for it in the future, so I hope it will be well received.**

**I'd also once more like to thank my Beta for his hard work in making sure that what I've written here has had all the kinks ironed out.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Encounters**

It was yet another late afternoon at the Tristain Academy of Magic, the sun was low in the sky and the shadows were beginning to lengthen. The day was drawing to its end and the calm of the evening was just starting to descend.

KRACK-OOOM!

Or . . . maybe not.

In truth the sound of the explosion didn't startle anybody because they had become rather commonplace of late. Ever since that crazy Familiar of Vallière's had begun to work with his Summoner the sound of her failed spells had become so frequent that they were almost unnoticed now.

"Here come another two!" Alex called as he threw a pair of simple wooden lumps into the air.

Louise made no verbal reply, instead she whipped her wand around at the two lumps coming at her and muttered one of the shortest Earth spells of transmutation that there was. Both lumps exploded in small clouds of sawdust and two loud bangs that were accompanied by almost palpable waves of force from the detonations.

"And another two!" Her Summon called as he cast two more of the lumps in her direction.

The pink haired Mage tried to get her wand pointed at them, but this time there just wasn't enough time and one piece of wood sailed past her while the other bounced off her head.

As his Summoner brought up both her hands to rub the spot where the lump had hit her Alex put down the bag of wooden bits that he had been carrying and walked over to her.

"I think that'll be enough for tonight," her Summon commented as he drew near, "You've worked up quite a sweat and the light won't be lasting too much longer anyway."

"I . . . I can go . . . on." Louise declared, somewhat unconvincingly given how she was now gasping for breath.

Honestly, it had been like this for the last few days. Ever since their little trip into the woods his pink haired Summoner had demanded that he help her in the further development of her magic. He supposed he could understand it, after years of failure and an inability to get anything right he'd shown her a way in which she could be useful despite her handicap. It was hardly a surprise that she would seize upon that like a drowning person grabbing a rope.

Still, as the effective teacher in this little relationship it was his duty to make sure that she didn't push herself too far. She had definitely been making progress though, of that there was no doubt. Having grasped the concept that her explosions could be an asset and having been introduced to the idea that there was some sort of order to the seemingly random eruptions Louise had set to work with an almost desperate fervour. If he let her she'd probably run herself into the ground in order to get just a little more practice in.

Ye gods, this was a fantasy story, why did he suddenly find himself in something akin to the role of a coach in a sports manga?

"If you push yourself too hard you'll only make it more difficult for yourself tomorrow," he said, not letting a trace of his inner exasperation with the situation show on his face. "Lets get you to your room so you can get changed and then head for something to eat. After all the energy you've burned I think you'll soon be pretty hungry."

Louise didn't look to happy about having to stop, but then a slightly pained look came over her face and Alex guessed that her muscles were beginning to complain.

"Tell you what, why don't you head to your room and I'll go to the kitchen and let them know that you'd like something in your room. They can get it ready for you and I'll bring it up. Consider it a treat for having done so well in practice today." He saw another flash of hesitation on her face and decided to sweeten the deal. "I'll be sure to ask if they have any cookberry pie for desert."

That did it. Any further thoughts of argument disappeared from the pink haired mage's mind as her thoughts turned to anticipation of her favourite food.

Alex smiled as he saw her walk off. Then, once he was sure he was alone; he held out his hand and concentrated his will. In response to his mental command something that looked like a flat tablet of transparent red tinted plastic about the size of the average paper back book appeared in his hand.

"Display today's accuracy results." He demanded in a soft voice.

The tablet glowed slightly, then clear dark grey letters and numbers began to appear on it.

**Number of targets thrown: 42**

**Number of targets hit: 28**

**Accuracy rating 66.6666666667%**

"And what was yesterday's accuracy result?"

**Yesterday's accuracy rating 60.7843137255% **

"What's the improvement then?"

**Improvement between two ratings = 5.8823529412%**

So, there had been a definite improvement. Well, that was just fine, if they kept up this way then by the time it came to the point where Fouquet showed up she at least would be able to defend herself far more credibly than her original self would have been able to.

As he made the tablet fade away once more the red haired young man found his thoughts wondering back to the night when he had first gained access to it. He'd first noticed that the scars on his right hand were glowing just after he'd put his exhausted Summoner to bed, or rather after he'd laid his sleeping Summoner on her bed sheets because he wasn't fool enough to try to undress her, that was just asking for trouble.

Once he had noticed it though he had quickly made his way to an empty classroom and had materialized the book once more. Just as before the tome had opened itself and its pages had flipped over until they had reached the page that had been unlocked. On one page had been a painted picture of the transparent red plastic tablet that he had since become familiar with while the page opposite had had several lines written on it. With great interest he'd started to read what was written there.

**Electronic Notebook.**

_**Unlock Condition: Induce another to cast more than ten spells not targeted at Alex.**_

_**Use Conditions: Scan functions can only be used upon friendly targets.**_

**The Electronic Notebook serves as a calculator, recorder, sensor pack and record book. Its functions can be voice activated or inputted through the touch screen. Memory is considerable but not unlimited and operation of this device requires a small amount of Prana for it to function. The sensor capabilities will function while this artefact is stored, but will have a range of only half its full capacity.**

All in all the description had been almost as unhelpful as it had been useful. It spoke of sensor capacities but didn't clarify what they were. It wrote of a range being halved, but didn't say what the full range was. Simply put all he had was a vague description of what it could do, the details were something that he'd had to work out for himself through experimentation.

It had taken him a bit to work out what this new device had been before its transformation, mainly due to the fact that its original form had been more of an impulse buy than anything else.

During the course of the convention he'd found that there were a few things that he'd wanted to write down such as email addresses, new series that intrigued him and a list of future purchases that he didn't want to forget. Since he hadn't had any paper he'd gone over to one of the stores and picked up a simple notebook that had only cost him 99 pence. The outside cover had been of various circuit boards and the like. It would seem that its conversion into a mystic artefact had been influenced by that cover.

Another thing that nagged at him was the unlock condition. It seemed to be oddly disconnected from the item it unlocked. With his clothes there had been a link, he had only accessed them after he had removed what clothes he was wearing, but in this case he couldn't see a connection between him having someone cast spells and the Electronic Notebook.

In all truth though, his newest asset wasn't really all that useful. Certainly the calculator function was of some use as was the sensor capability. The fact that it was voice activated and seemed to be very user friendly was pretty cool, but at the end of the day its practical applications were somewhat limited.

It was good at counting things, for example for the last few days he'd been asking it to record various details of Louise's practice. It seemed to have no trouble taking them down, but in the end apart from telling him some statistic there wasn't really that much it could do, at least not in his present situation.

Perhaps its biggest limitation was the simple fact that it didn't contain any data that he hadn't put into it. So for instance if he asked it how many blades of grass there were in range of its sensors it couldn't tell him because it didn't know what a blade of grass was. However if he took the time to provide an example for it to scan then it wouldn't have any trouble complying with his request.

He was well aware that with a bit of time to work with it and a little imagination it could be an extremely useful tool, but for the time being he had other things on his mind and had decided to concentrate on them.

And right now he had to go and get some food for his Summoner.

* * *

-()-

* * *

Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst knew that some of the other students in the Academy held her in contempt. This was something that was as significant to her as was the mating habits of the blue tailed finch, in other words not at all.

She was well aware that both her looks and her personality rubbed most of the other female students the wrong way. Her own beauty eclipsed most of them to a degree that was intimidating and her attitudes caused most of the Tristainians, who worshipped caution as a virtue, to regard her with both jealousy and disapproval. She was well aware of what was being spoken of her behind her back, but in all truth she didn't care.

What reason did she have to be concerned if some shrewish little Tristain girl called her a harlot or a harridan behind her back? They were just boring little children that spoke ill of her but probably wished desperately that they could do the same thing in the hidden parts of their hearts.

It was a common misconception among her peers that her promiscuous activities were driven by an unquenchable lust. Many had quietly said to each other, being careful that the talented fire mage wasn't there to hear them at the time, that her lewd behaviour was driven an insatiable sexual hunger. If truth be told though, while Kirche may have been somewhat free with her body she was by no means the kind of woman that they thought her to be.

The Germainian girl was by nature extremely passionate as well as somewhat covetous; when she saw something that she wanted she would do whatever it took to get it. She had learnt early in life that her looks were a powerful tool, and as she had grown and filled out the potency of their effects had only grown as well.

It was thus perhaps understandable why Kirche had become involved in 'adult' entertainments at the young age of thirteen. At first it had just been some kissing in the corners with whichever boy had caught her fancy, but in time she had found it much more fun to push her limits, to see how far things could go.

By the time she was sixteen and a student at the Tristain Academy of Magic it had begun to lose a bit of its previous appeal. Within a short time after starting at the school she'd already had three boys ardently pursuing her. There were only two reasons why she had done this, firstly because those three boys were among the better looking ones in her class. Secondly, and more importantly though . . . she had just been so bored.

When all was said and done that was the root of her behaviour. She found being prim and proper, in the way of the Tristain girls, to be so utterly dull. Kirche was a hot blooded young woman and she saw no reason to constrain and bore herself, instead she followed her interests and took a certain pleasure in the jealously and disapproval of others.

And recently she had spied something **very** interesting.

When she'd first seen the hulking red haired giant she'd been quite impressed. In the past she had seen men that were just as tall as the strangely dressed familiar, but none of them had ever combined that height with such a thickly muscled form. In the past Kirche had always been more interested in the pretty boys of her class, but when she'd seen those arms as thick as tree logs and watched the corded muscle moving beneath the skin . . . well, it brought up all manner of intriguing thoughts.

The fact that he was also the familiar of Louise Vallière had also gone a fair ways to raising his interest value in her eyes. Though she didn't really put too much stock in it she was well aware that her family and Louise's had a rivalry going on that dated back decades. In all truth Kirche couldn't really have cared less, but she enjoyed getting a rise out of the horrible stiff and formal young Vallière. There wasn't anything malicious in her needling, if she had to put it into words she'd have said that she was trying to draw the pink haired girl out of the shell she'd erected around herself due to her problems with magic.

Unfortunately her attempts hadn't worked out as she had hoped and the 'relationship' between the two girls had become antagonistic at best. The end result was that she highly doubted that the pink haired girl would be too happy to let her borrow her hunky new familiar.

Well, that was okay. After all Kirche was quite skilled at getting what she wanted if she did say so herself, this would be just another such occasion.

Now, how should she go about this?

* * *

-()-

* * *

Alex was walking down the corridor and wondering what he could do with the next hour or so until he went to bed. Right now he wasn't too hungry, since he'd eaten a couple of hours ago, so there wasn't much point to heading towards the kitchen. He could lend a hand there he supposed, but right now he was feeling a bit restless and had elected to simply take a walk through the empty halls of the Academy.

Louise was probably asleep by now, she'd been practically nodding off at her desk when he'd last seen her, but she'd still been grimly determined to finish her assignments before she hit the sheets. Honestly she might have a terrible temper half the time, but if there was one thing he couldn't fault her for it was her work ethic.

Outside the sun had set and the twin moons of this strange new world had come out to share the sky. As he saw them through a window the new Gandálfr couldn't help but wonder as to what entertainment he might draw from them had he been more interested in astronomy. If he had been so inclined there would have been an entirely new sky for him to pick over, new stars, new planets, new constellations.

A whole new sky . . .

He glanced down at his left hand with an almost accusatory glare. He was aware that the runes inscribed there had a certain mental effect, they were meant to suppress his memories of home, or at least the emotional connections there, or something like that. He'd been tying to be rational about his situation, or at least as rational as he could be given the absolute impossibilities taking place, but it was disquieting not to know what part of that was him trying to be practical and which part was the runes playing with his mind.

Gah . . . ! It wasn't as though he didn't want to go home; it's just that he was trying to look at it logically, or at least as logically as he could given that he was currently in an anime. He knew of a way to return to an earth, but he didn't know if it was his own. So far the only thing he knew that was definitely connected to his home world was the Void magic that Louise had used to summon him. If he remembered correctly one of the other Void users that cropped up later in the story had a spell called 'World Gate', or something like that. Though he hadn't watched most of the last anime series he had seen the last couple of episodes and in them one of the big plot points had been that Louise could open doors to the home world of Saito.

Of course as far as he had been able to determine he was in the book continuity, not the anime one, but that still meant that there was at least a chance, right? If her summoning spell connected to his world then surely that meant that her gateway spell would too.

But until he got to that point there was nothing he could do. Oh sure, he could whine and pout and brood and generally waste his time and energy on ultimately pointless activities, but that just wasn't him. Alex had always prided himself on being _rational _he wasn't one of those people that were terrified of spiders simply because of how they looked, if they were poisonous then sure they deserved to be feared, but not common household ones. It was the same with snakes and centipedes and so on. Sure he found the dark to be scary sometimes, even though he was pretty much a grown man, but he didn't let himself become irrational due to that fear.

In a way he was slightly grateful to the runes, even though he still found their effects to be disquieting, their dampening of his feelings for his home made it easier for him to keep his emotional equilibrium. After all it wasn't as though he had a heart of stone, he felt joy and grief, fear and hope just as anyone would. It was just that he tried not to let his heart rule him instead of his mind.

With a disgusted shake of his head the red haired young man tried his best to get his mind off the somewhat depressing subject that it seemed to be stuck on. He didn't want to have to deal with this now, not when there was absolutely nothing he could do other than end up running in mental rings. What he wanted was something fun, at this point even something that was simply moderately distracting would do.

"Greeeeeooooo?"

The slightly questioning croaking croon from behind him startled him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the present. Turning round he saw that Flame was standing behind him and looking up at him with those oddly expressive green reptilian eyes of his.

"Oh, hey there Flame, what brings you here?" Alex asked as he squatted next to the red scaled familiar and began to scratch it behind its eye crest just where he knew the big lizard liked it.

In response to his ministrations the familiar of Kirche seemed to lose all will to stand up and slumped bonelessly to the ground in a crooning heap as it enjoyed the petting of the new Gandálfr.

"Heh, you're just a big lazy lizard aren't you?" Alex commented as he sat himself down next to the seemingly slothful reptile.

In all truth he didn't really mind taking a few minutes to pamper Flame. He found it oddly soothing to do so, rather like petting a friendly cat, the truth was there was something just plain relaxing about it. Still after a few minutes he did start to feel a bit restless once more.

"So what was it you wanted? Did you go looking for me simply so that you could get a bit of petting out of me?"

That question got a reaction, as though a switch had been flipped in its head the salamander suddenly got up, seized a corner of his mantle in its teeth and began to insistently tug at him.

"Eh, what's that boy? Little Timmy has fallen down a well and needs me to rescue him?"

For a moment the fire lizard paused in its efforts and simply looked at him in a way that seemed to question both Alex's intelligence and his sanity. It was a look that left him wondering, and not for the first time, just how smart Flame actually was.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, and then felt a bit foolish for apologising to the large lizard, "It's a bit of an inside joke, I don't suppose that you would get it."

Okay, why was he apologising for using a 'Lassie' referencing joke to Flame? Sure Sylphid might have actually understood what he was saying but he doubted that Kirche's familiar was an intelligent dragon in disguise. Well whatever the case might be further thoughts were cut off as Flame resumed his tugging, but this time putting a bit more force into it. And when a reptile with the mass of a small tiger is tugging on you that insistently then even if one had the physical powers of a Servant then you took notice.

"Alright, alright," he said as soothingly as he could, "No need to pull it off me, I'm coming, just show me where you want to go."

The big reptile seemed to understand what he was saying because it let go of his mantle and began to scurry along down the hall. Once it reached the turning at the end it stopped and looked back at him. With a shrug Alex followed after it wondering as he did so why he had the feeling that there was something niggling at the back of his mind.

Eventually, after going down some stairs and having walked through many corridors, Flame came to a stop in front of a closed door which he then nudged with his snout. Still somewhat interested by what was going on Alex opened the door and then followed the salamander in.

The room was pitch dark, save for the mild glow that came from Flame's tail and as he stepped in Alex had the nagging feeling that there was something that he had forgotten, something important. Still he was mildly curious as to what it might be that had led to the salamander being so vehement in its desire to bring him here. Absentmindedly he closed the door behind him and instinctively fumbled for a light switch before remembering that there wouldn't be one.

"Welcome to my room."

He looked up in surprise as he heard the throaty voice of Kirche, this was her room. Actually, now that he thought about it, Flame had been leading him in that general direction, it was just that his mind had been on the problem plaguing him rather than where he was being led. That might have been a mistake.

There was a snap of fingers and, starting from the one nearest to him, lamps lit up one by one around the room.

The first thing that went through the new Gandálfr's mind as soon as he saw Kirche was to note that she was wearing the same sexy lingerie that she had been depicted with in the anime. A small voice at the back of his mind commented that that wasn't fair; he was in the book universe, so why was she wearing that?

The second thing that went through his mind as he saw her was a sound that could best be described as: 'KRRCHIKKUU'. In all truth it sounded rather like the noise a complex machine might make if a steel bar were suddenly interposed into its mechanisms.

In his defence it could be argued that such a reaction was probably the only one that could be expected, given the circumstances. The young Germanian red head was a stunning sight under normal circumstances, and in the room's intimate atmosphere and garbed as she was in attire designed to be as provocative as possible over her nearly nude form it was hardly a surprise that Alex's mind was suddenly giving him the blue screen of death.

This-this was absurd. This shouldn't be happening to him, this was what happened with Saito. Alex had never thought of himself as particularly attractive, sure he was tall and in excellent shape, but despite that he wasn't what most would consider calling handsome. Sure he'd had a couple of relationships, but in both cases the encounters that had started them off had been set up by outside parties, and he was still unsure why two such attractive girls had decided to settle on him.

He could understand why Siesta might possess the same admiration for him that she'd had for Saito, after all he had defeated a Noble in a spectacularly one sided battle. Such a feat would be just what was needed to catch her attention, but the thought that it might have also done the same for Kirche had never really entered his mind.

"Please don't just stand there Iskander. Come to me." Kirche's cooed, her words were filled with heat and promises.

Rather than go to her though Alex found he was rooted to the spot as thoroughly as though someone had nailed him in place. His brain was slowly finding its way back to something approaching proper function, but even so he wasn't thinking quite coherently yet.

"Wh-what is it?" Even to his own ears his voice sounded a bit on the weak side. It would seem that in the face of her devastatingly alluring body the natural eloquence and decorum that came with the Charisma skill had deserted him.

Kirche gave a long sigh, and worriedly shook her head.

"You must think me a lowly, despicable woman."

"Huh?" Alex blinked a few times as further coherence was slowly restored to his scattered thoughts.

"To be thought so is inevitable. Do you understand? My runic name is 'Ardent'."

"I . . . I did hear that I think."

Okay his mind was now up and running, even if he was having some trouble believing that this was happening to him. No, can't get distracted now by how that filmy cloth highlighted the curve of her-

No! Focus! You're a man, not a monkey.

"My lust is as flammable as hay . . . that's why I suddenly called you here. Don't you get it? Isn't this really bad of me?"

"It could certainly be called that." Okay, his head was getting a bit more into the game. The important thing to remember was that at this point in time Louise regarded Kirche with something close to hate. It wasn't a deep or poisonous hatred, merely something close due to the familial history that she took great pride in. If he were to do something with the red haired beauty then it would probably severely damaged the still nascent relationship between Summon and Summoner.

"But . . . I'm sure you'll forgive me."

Kirche was no longer sitting on her bed, instead she was now standing and walking . . . no, that wasn't the right word to describe it. She was slinking towards him, her every movement as lithe as a cat's and utterly sensual.

"A-And just what might I be forgiving you for?"

Despite his attempts to regain his composure Alex couldn't help but have his voice quaver just a tad as she advanced upon him.

"Why loving you, my dear. To you, my love is just that sudden."

"Well, 'sudden' is certainly one word that I would use." He tried his best, and failing if he was being honest with himself, to put some dry humour into the words, but despite that Kirche's face remained serious as she drew closer.

"Your grandeur in defeating Guiche was . . . oh I can't even describe it . . . it was magnificent . . . like a hero of the ancient legends. And me? Oh when I saw you standing over him, victorious but merciful . . . Well, right at that moment I knew I was in love. Can you believe it? I was attracted to you just like that! Passion! Oh, this is a passionate love!"

By this point the red haired mage was practically on top of Alex. He'd retreated as far as he could, but now found himself backed up right against the closed door behind him. Reaching out Kirche ran one finger down the front of his breastplate.

"My runic name, 'Ardent', is quite passionate as well. I've been writing love songs since that day! Love songs in honour of your fiery magnificence! All just for you Iskander. You appear in my dreams every night, so I asked Flame to see how you were doing and to . . . oh, I'm so embarrassed. You must think so low of me, am I right? But it's all because of you!"

To say that Alex had been rendered speechless would be a gross understatement. In the face of the sexy red head's passionate declaration he wouldn't have been able to say a word even if someone had offered Excalibur itself right then and there.

Kirche must have taken his silence for acceptance because her arms looped about his neck and pulled causing him to lean down even as she drew herself up. Slowly, with closed eyes, she brought their faces together as her lips approached his own.

However before the kiss came Alex's hand gently fell on her shoulder and then just as gently, but none the less firmly, pushed her from him.

Kirche's eyes widened in surprise as she stared up at the large young man. He could understand why, someone as naturally alluring as her couldn't be too used to any sort of rejection, especially not under such circumstances as these.

"Why?"

The single word was . . . not hurt as he had feared it might be, but rather it was oddly curious.

Okay, if ever there was a time for some fast talking it was now. The fire mage was a major character in the future 'story', and he didn't think that alienating her by being inadvertently offensive was a sensible move. Also, if he was being really honest with himself, he didn't fully want to reject her. Kirche was one of the most physically attractive women that he'd met in his life; the idea of just flat out rejecting her was difficult to get around.

"You . . . fall in love too easily." Alex thanked his lucky stars that his brain had booted up enough to remember that line from the first novel, it seemed to have struck Kirche's weak point because her face turned red in an instant and her expression grew mildly contrite, though he also thought that it might have been feigned.

"Yes . . . I guess I have more . . . passion than others. That can't be helped. Love is sudden, and it burns through my body so quickly. . ."

At that moment, a voice from outside the window interrupted her.

A student of the same grade as the room's owner was looking in though the window with an indignant expression on his face.

"Kirche, I came to check because you weren't there on time . . ."

"Berisson! We'll meet two hours later then!"

"That wasn't what we agreed on!"

Kirche nonchalantly took out her wand from between her breasts, causing Alex to wonder how he'd missed it before and then to mentally slap himself for asking such a stupid question since he damned well knew why, and waved it without even looking at Berisson. Flames shot out from a nearby lamp and homed in on the young man at the window like a snake.

"What an annoying owl."

That made the new Gandálfr arch one eyebrow, mainly at the sheer audacity of her trying to simply dismiss what had just happened.

"Eh . . . you didn't hear all that, did you?"

"I take it that owl was someone you know?"

"Just a friend. Whatever . . . right now, my deepest, most passionate love is you, Iskander . . ."

Once again she leaned towards him; however this time Alex's mind had finally cleared itself. He could remember how this scene went, and if he was right then the next interruption should be here any second now,

And here it was.

"Kirche! Who is that guy? Aren't you going to heat up the night with me?"

A sharp-looking teen peered into the room with a sad face.

"Styx! How does four hours later sound?"

"That's the Zero's familiar, what are you doing with him Kirche?"

There was a definite hint of anger in the student mage's voice, and his expression also grew stormy as he was about to enter the room. In response the red haired fire mage waved her wand again. The flames flew from the lamp again, hit the man, and sent him to the ground.

"I'm guessing that he's your friend as well?" Inquired Alex as he did his best to keep a smile from forming. This was rather amusing to watch first hand and the humour of the situation was managing to drain the sensual atmosphere out of the room and thus made it easier for him to pull himself together.

"Instead of 'friend', let's just say that I've only heard of him. Oh well, I don't want to waste our time. Whoever said 'the night is long' didn't know how quickly the sun rises."

This time the red haired pseudo Servant didn't bother to hide his amused smile, instead he deliberately arched an eyebrow at her again and then pointedly stared at the window.

This time there were three men looking inside, and all of them said the same thing at the same time in a display of synchronization that was quite frankly slightly creepy.

"Kirche! What the hell is this?! You said you don't have any lovers!"

"Manican! Ajax! Gimli!"

Kirche's face was starting to take on a slightly harried look; apparently she hadn't planned this night nearly as well as she thought that she had.

"I'll get to you in . . . six hours then." Kirche waved irritably.

"But it'll be the morning by then!" the three said in that strange unison.

"Flame!" Kirche casually ordered her salamander, who had been sitting in the corner apparently avidly watching the activities of his favourite two humans. Flame sent a blaze towards the three men at the window, and the trio promptly fell to the ground together.

"And those would be . . . ?"

"Them? I don't even know them. But they're not important, what matters is that I love you!"

As Kirche once more leaned towards him Alex found himself tempted, oh so very tempted. Unlike in the original story Louise wasn't coming to interrupt, not given how tired she'd been after he saw her to her room. He could just let this happen . . .

Bah, who was he kidding? One thing that Alex had always prided himself on was his thoughtfulness and rationality. When one had the natural size and strength that him one couldn't afford to simply give in to their passions and angers, if he did it would be all too easy to hurt someone.

And right now he certainly wasn't going to do his thinking with his loins instead of his head.

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, and then just as gently pushed her away from him.

"Iskander?"

Once again her voice was questioning, but there was a definite hint of puzzlement in it this time.

"Miss . . . Kirche, you are definitely one of the most beautiful woman I've ever met, however I'm afraid that acts of passion aren't what I prefer." He smiled at her and tried to make his expression as gentle as he could.

"I . . . recently ended a relationship on . . . poor terms. I don't have any problems starting a new one, but I'm not interested in a flame that will burn bright and then die out. I'm looking for something a bit more . . . long term."

She actually took a step back at that point, not in retreat or in hurt; rather it was to give herself some room. The lamps around the room cast many shadows and as she stood before him that strange mixture of darkness and light only served to lend lustre to her bronze skin and to highlight her gorgeous body.

"But what of my passion Iskander? Will you turn me away and leave me to burn alone?"

Okay, if she wanted to carry on the metaphor then so could he.

"Passion is bright, but it burns out fast. Tell me, do you really seek love or merely passion?"

Alex didn't wait for a reply; quite frankly he didn't want to risk testing his resolve any further than he had to. Reaching behind him he opened the door to the room. With a respectful nod of his head he slipped out, closed the door behind him . . . and then ran down the corridor at a rather undignified sprint. Fortunately there wasn't anyone there to see him, but even if there had been he'd still have run.

* * *

-()-

* * *

Kirche stared at the door and wondered just where things had gone wrong.

The young mage had a basic formula for getting any man she wanted; number one, a seductive glance thrown in the hallway. Number two, sticking her bust out as she pretended to trip. Number three, crossing her legs in front of him. With those simple steps she had always been able to ensnare any boy that caught her fancy without fail. And if she had ever wanted to reduce a target to her adoring slave, well normally the sight of her in her current state was enough to reduce any male who saw her to a state where he'd agree to absolutely anything without a second thought.

Except that this time it had failed.

Sitting on her bed Kirche tried to work out what had gone wrong. The atmosphere had been right, she knew she had been ravishing and the setting had been intimate. For moment she had considered that maybe he was one of those men that preferred the company of other boys to women, but had quickly dismissed that idea. She had felt his eyes upon her, she had felt his gaze trace the curves of her body and had seen his face flush with desire, so that wasn't the problem.

Could it be that he already had a lover? In the past some of her targets had been slightly more difficult to ensnare if they already had partners, but in the end that had only been a minor inconvenience to her. She was sure that given time she could tempt him away from any lover he might have, after all who was there that could match her beauty and allure?

The only question was who could that lover be? The young fire mage had been watching the object of her affections for the last few days and had noticed that aside from his Summoner the only person he seemed to spend any time with was one of the servants of the academy. That meant there were only a small number of potential candidates for the position.

Could it be Louise herself? That was a slightly amusing thought, after all Iskander was such a large man and Louise was of below average height. When the two of them stood next to each other the pink haired Vallière looked almost like a child in comparison to her familiar. Aside from that she didn't think there was anything going on between them, after all she had the distinct impression that Louise was one of those girls that found it hard to admit that they loved someone. If she had been in such a relationship with her familiar she'd be doing a lot more blushing and getting angry at the silliest things.

No, not Louise. But if not her then whom? Maybe that maid that Iskander seemed to spend quite a bit of time with? No, surely not. After all that maid might be attractive in an ordinary sort of way but surely no-one would pass over someone like Kirche for her.

Would they?

Or maybe it wasn't anyone here; maybe he had a lover back home from wherever Louise had summoned him from. If that was the case then all she'd have to do was wait, after a bit more time had passed he'd begin to realize that it was highly unlikely that he'd ever be able to return to his home, and when he did come to that realization then she could be there to offer 'comfort' to him.

Wait; hadn't he said something about recently ending a relationship? She supposed that might also explain his reluctance to accept her love. If he was being haunted by memories of some poor relationship then it only made sense that he'd be a bit reluctant to enter into a new one.

Well, if that was the case then her course of action was clear. She'd have to woo her target and worm her way into his heart until he accepted her as the one that could heal his romantic wound.

Yes, she nodded to herself in satisfaction. The plan was perfect; there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong.

"Hey Kirche!" A voice from her window pulled her out of her thoughts and brought her attention back to her window where a slightly singed but hopeful looking Berisson was hovering. "Since that barbarian commoner is gone now does that that mean that you and I are back on?"

The way his eyes were running over her barely covered form left no doubt as to what he was hoping her answer would be. With a sigh the young Von Zerbst waved her wand once more and caused a thin stream of fire to shoot forth from every lamp and candle in the room, all of which then converged on the window like flaming arrows.

Her suitor had just enough time for a startled yelp before they all met just a few inches from his face and detonated in a small but fierce explosion.

As the sounds of his surprise disappeared as he plummeted into the night Kirche calmly closed and locked her window, then sat on her bed and turned to face her familiar.

"Well, that didn't go like I was hoping, did it?"

In response to her question the large crimson lizard scuttled over to her and laid its head in her lap. She smiled at that, it was nice that her familiar could sense her mood and was doing its best to comfort her.

"Ah well, I won't let it get me down," she murmured as she gently stroked the fine scales of Flame's neck. "Tomorrow I'll go to town and get Iskander a present, something so fine and magnificent that it will take his breath away."

And with any luck it would also leave him in a more agreeable frame of mind than what had happened just a few minutes ago had. Honestly if she'd remembered about those other boys then things would probably have gone much better for her.

Ah well . . .

Hmmm, now what would be a good gift for someone like her beloved Iskander?

* * *

-()-

* * *

"I think we need to get me another sword today."

Louise looked up from her meal to the large form of her Summon who was calmly sitting next to her. She'd originally been a bit surprised when Iskander had decided to join her in the main hall with the other students, but as it turned out he'd had no trouble in claiming a chair and a meal for herself. Malicorne, or the Common Cold as she had privately named him, had taken one look at the imposing bulk of her Summon and had decided that perhaps skipping a meal wouldn't be a bad idea. Iskander hadn't even noticed him arrive and then leave; his attention had been too fixed on the delicious breakfast that he had been devouring.

Now it was just after they had finished and they were walking out of the hall. Since today was the day of the Void there were no classes and the youngest of the Vallière sisters had been planning to spend most of the day working on her magic.

"Oh? Why would you need another sword? The one that you've got was able to make pretty short work out of all of Guiche's golems after all."

"Yeah," Alex agreed, "But you know that information that the Summoning gave me? It's telling me that there is a powerful and useful sword somewhere in Tristain. Trust me; I don't think it would be a good idea to ignore this."

Louise frowned at that, she'd almost forgotten about that aspect of her strange new ally. He'd claimed that the same magic that had brought him to her side had also imparted knowledge upon him and given him the ability to speak her language. Well, given some of the other things that she'd seen him do she supposed that him just knowing stuff without any particular reason wasn't so unusual.

Also . . . there was the fact that in the few days that she had been working with him she had seen more advancement in the use of her magic than she had in the last few years. Granted she still couldn't cast a successful spell, but at least for the first time in her life she felt that she was gaining some sort of control over the explosions that had plagued her all her life. It was a small thing to be sure, but at least it was **something**. That was surely deserving of some sort of reward wasn't it?

Yes, that would be the right thing to do, the Vallière thing to do. Her Summon had been conducting himself well and as such deserved some sort of payment. Mentally the pink haired mage started to go over how much money she had at her disposal, after all a powerful magical sword was sure to be costly. Her family allowed her a monthly allowance to see to her personal needs and desires, it was a fairly modest amount but since she hadn't really had much call to spend it her savings had mounted up over the months that she'd spent at the academy. Offhand she'd estimate that she had about one thousand and one hundred new gold coins. That should be more than enough to cover anything Iskander could reasonably ask her to buy for him.

"Very well then," she said, trying to sound as nobly generous as she could, "I shall accede to your wishes and accompany you to find this weapon that you say will be of such use."

There, that was just right; she had agreed to follow through with his request but had done so in such a way that it left no question as to who was in charge here. Iskander might be turning out to be the best famil- Oh, wait, that was Summon, not familiar. Anyway, Iskander might be turning out to be the best Summon that she could have hoped for, but she still had to let him know which of them was in charge.

As soon as she had finished speaking she saw that her Summon had stopped walking and was just looking at her with a quizzical expression on his face. For a moment Louise was worried that she might have pushed things a bit too far and somehow offended him, then a smile broke over his face.

Stepping back a little he brought one arm across his torso, just below his ribs, and lent forwards in an exaggeratedly courtly bow.

"Of course my small Lady, I graciously accept your kind generosity."

His actions were so unlike his usual demeanour the Louise couldn't help but feel a smile tug at her lips.

* * *

-()-

* * *

The trip to Tristain would normally have taken about three hours on horseback if the rider chose to go at a slightly sedate pace so as to have a comfortable ride. It was the length of that ride that was the main reason why Louise rarely went to the city and so had small cause to spend her money, or at least so she told Alex.

However by using his Chariot to cover the majority of the distance and then walking the rest of the way the whole trip took less than half an hour.

"How is it that those bulls can run so fast on the lightning?" asked his diminutive Summoner as the two of them strolled through the city gates, "I think even dragons would have a hard time flying as fast as your chariot can move."

"Noble Phantasms are things of myth given form," He explained as his thoughts raced. If he remembered correctly Louise had been a rather devout follower of the faith of her land, and if he was right then that faith held that there was only one god and that the founder of their current civilization had be a messianic figure. In a way he supposed it bore a superficial resemblance to Christianity. So, how best to portray the tale of the Gordius Wheel in a way that wouldn't cause conflict?

"Thousands of years ago there was a mighty King, Iskander the Conqueror after whom I'm named, who sought to unite the divided western lands in which he lived. Among his many conquests was a land that was ruled by the then king Gordius. Thinking to gain favour from his heathen gods Gordius intended to offer up a pair of mystic bulls as sacrifices so as to be able to face Iskander's armies. However Iskander thought the beasts far too fine to be slaughtered in some brutal ceremony and so moved to save them. In the end he sliced the reins that held them and yoked them to the great chariot that he'd had his artisans create. The result was the Noble Phantasm that made him eligible for the Rider class of Servants."

There, a somewhat twisted version of accounts, but at least it gave the misleading impression that Alexander the Great had not himself been a worshipper of 'heathen' gods. Hell, in some versions of his legend he'd been the son of one of those self same deities. He felt a little bad about misleading Louise like this, but it helped avoid major points of contention between them, at least for the time being. If he remembered right there would be plenty of conflict with the details of her religion at some later point.

"So . . . your chariot belonged to this other Iskander first? Then why do you have it?" the voice of the youngest Vallière sister was both curious and slightly confused as she asked her question.

"Names have power, and so do roles," Alex answered as he groped for the right words to explain what he wasn't quite sure of. Of course he could simply lie and spin further fictions in order to explain it away, but he was making a concerted effort to stick as close to the truth as he could whenever possible, "As I said I was named after the first Iskander and that makes for one link between us. Not only that, I also possess certain similarities to him that have led me to try to . . . not imitate, but rather . . . emulate? It's a bit hard to explain, I suppose I see Iskander the King of Conquerors as a role model, someone to regard as an example to follow."

Well, while that wasn't strictly the truth it did come pretty close. The fictional Iskander was one of those larger than life characters that were vastly popular due to being in many ways what people wished that they could be. Perhaps it had been a version of that admiration that had led Alex to choose him as his cosplay subject. Well, that and the fact that he was a good fit physically for someone of Alex's body type.

"What it boils down to is that there is a sort of link between me and Iskander the Great, one that the magic I gain from being your Summon can use to provide me with a suitable Noble Phantasm to be of the Rider class. Of course I lack the traits to be able to wield the greatest of the King of Conqueror's Noble Phantasms, but that is to be expected since we are different people."

That comment caused her to pause and look at him in surprise.

"Was the other Noble . . . Phantasm so powerful?"

"Oh yes," Alex assured her as he remembered how the multiple Assassins had been wiped out in Fate/Zero, "The Gordius Wheel is a mighty weapon able to crush armies and devastate cities given time, however Ionioi Hetairoi was one of the highest ranking Noble Phantasms in existence. It was the kind that could be used to conquer whole nations or shatter multiple armies."

That wasn't any sort of exaggeration either, in the novels and the anime the Reality Marble of Rider had been portrayed as one of the most powerful abilities in the whole war. If Alex had possessed it himself . . . Oh the things he could have achieved. The battle at Saxe-Gotha would certainly have gone extremely differently if that had been the case. He'd have loved to see Sheffield's face when he suddenly pulled a whole army out of nowhere.

"Anyway there's no need to worry ourselves about assets we don't possess. I mean I can wish for the Gates of Babylon or Unlimited Blade Works all I want; it doesn't mean that I shall gain them. Let's concern ourselves with what we can get for the time being and focus on what ifs later. Now, you said there was a weapons shop around here somewhere? I suppose that would be our best place to start if we're looking for a sword to buy."

Louise simply nodded as she resumed her walking.

"Some time you'll have to tell me more about these other Servants and Summons that you're always talking about." She commented as she turned into a side alley and led him past several piles of reeking garbage.

Internally Alex shuddered at the sight of such poor sanitation. He supposed that he should have expected it, after all the cultural level of the civilization he was in could be described as dark ages at worst and just pre-renaissance at best. He supposed that with magic the chances of disease and parasites was somehow reduced, but even so he couldn't help but wince slightly each time he passed a small mound of rotting bones, decomposing vegetables or human refuse,

"Ah! Found it!"

Louise's pleased exclamation brought a sigh of relief to his lips as it gave him the opportunity to escape both the smell and thoughts of fleas and lice feasting on his blood.

There was a big bronze sign outside one of the nearby shops and a sword-shaped sign dangled beneath it. If that was anything to go by then it seemed like this was the arms dealer's shop they were looking for. Alex followed as his pink haired Summoner pushed the door open and entered the establishment.

Despite the bright daylight outside, the shop was rather dim inside. A single gas lamp flickered and cast shadows over the walls and shelves that were filled with unorganized weapons. A detailed suit of armour decorated one corner of the room while a barrel full of spears sat in another. A man in his fifties smoking a pipe sat behind the counter and eyed Louise suspiciously.

That is, until he saw the pentagram on her golden button, as soon as his eyes caught it he removed his pipe and stood up waving his hands defensively.

"My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

Huh, that was a rather specific thing to say, did the man have a guilty conscience perhaps? No, more likely he simply had something illegal going on and was trying to open negotiations for the necessary bribe to save himself.

"I'm here to be your customer."

At Louise's declaration the slightly panicked look faded from the shopkeeper's face and was replaced by one of slightly bemused confusion.

"Oh . . . that's rather weird . . . a noble buying a sword! Quite strange."

"Why is that?"

"Well . . . priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?"

"Oh, I'm not the one using it. My fam-, errr . . . my bodyguard is."

That was interesting; she'd stopped herself from calling him her familiar but at the same time hadn't called him her Summon. Instead she'd named him her bodyguard, a title less likely to draw attention. Very interesting.

"Ahh, so you're securing the service of this young man in order to better protect yourself then?" The shopkeeper was speaking in a lively voice, though his eyes did widen a bit as Alex stepped closer to the counter and loomed over him in the dim light. "I believe that there should be something suitable for him here somewhere?"

"I have been informed that there is a weapon of most rare quality here in this store," the somewhat hulking red head commented as he leaned over slightly to rest a palm on the countertop, "I would like to take a look at some of the best that you have in stock to see if this rumour has any substance to it."

By the looks of things Alex had proven to be a sight more intimidating than Louise had been, because the light of greed that had been forming in the merchant's eyes dimmed and his face instead took on a slightly hunted look.

"Errr . . . of course sir. P-Please just give me a moment and I'll be right back with my best swords."

The rat faced salesman quickly ducked into the backroom of his store and quickly returned with a trio of swords in his arms. One of them the new Gandálfr immediately recognized as the useless golden sword that he would have tried to con Saito and Louise into buying in the original story, but the other two were unfamiliar to him.

"Th-These are the finest swords that I have available," the shopkeeper declared as he set them down on the countertop. "A broadsword made by the famous Germanian alchemist Lord Shupei that can cut through metal like butter because of the magic infused in it. A Romalian long sword made with blessed silver and enchanted with a number of purifying spells by his holiness Victor the thirtieth. And this is an Albion broadsword forged from air stone touched iron ore that makes the weapon weigh less than half of what it should to its wielder."

As he finished the description of his wares there was a definite hint of confidence in his voice, a surety that his swords would not fail to satisfy.

Okay, this might be a bit more difficult to handle than he'd originally planned. The gold sword he knew how to get rid of, but the other two blades were another story. Oh well, Charisma skill, don't fail now.

Reaching out he grabbed the hilt of the golden broadsword and gave it a couple of swings.

"A beautiful weapon, but the gold mixed into the metal has left it top-heavy and compromised the steel, it might be enchanted to slice through metal but the first time it tries to parry a strong blow it's liable to snap."

Setting the broadsword down he then seized the silver long sword. As he gave it a couple of swings he quickly looked for a reason why he could reject this sword as well and soon came to a decision, if he couldn't find something then he'd simply lie cunningly, or at least try to.

"I'm afraid this one has a similar problem. The silver might have been more cunningly worked into the steel, but despite the excellent forging there are still a number of flaws in the metal work that could lead to the blade breaking."

Okay, that sounded believable; putting it back on the work top he reached out and picked up the last of the swords. As the shopkeeper had said the blade felt surprisingly light for its size and thickness, still a few quick swings revealed a perfectly legitimate reason why such a sword wouldn't suit him.

"This blade is well made, but by having halved the weight its maker has also halved the power of a swing from it. This would be best for someone of slighter stature who wishes to wield a large weapon, not for someone of my physique."

There, all three of the swords that had been offered had been eliminated as the one that he was looking for. Now the trick was somehow getting Derflinger to reveal itself. Now what might prompt a reaction from the talking sword?

Ah, that might work.

"These swords are fine showpieces, but I'm looking for a more . . . weathered blade, one that has been able to stand the test of time."

"Hah, like a big brute like you could properly wield a sword."

Oh yeah, he'd forgotten that the talking sword made it a point to insult all the customers that came into this shop. Ah well, time to meet his new partner. Doing his best to plaster an expression of annoyance onto his face Alex turned to look in the direction of the voice that had just spoken.

"Who said that? Come out where I can see you!"

As expected nobody jumped out from behind one of the barrels or piles of swords to own up to the insult, instead that same metallic metal voice spoke up once more.

"Are your eyes there just for decoration? I'm right here!"

Carefully approaching the pile of swords from which the voice was coming from Alex made a show of looking around with a puzzled look on his face.

"Who . . . ?"

"Still not getting it? Over here you great oxen."

Having spotted the sword that was moving slightly as the voice spoke the red haired young man reached out and pulled a rusty, aged sword from the pile.

"A talking sword?" That had sounded pretty genuine if he did say so himself. Maybe those acting lessons from back when he was twelve had paid off slightly after all.

The shopkeeper suddenly yelled angrily, "Derf! Do not say such impolite things to my customers!"

"Customer? A customer that can't wield a sword? You've got to be kidding me."

"Could it be . . . that this is a sentient sword?" asked Louise.

"That's right, lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword. I wonder what kind of mage could make a sword speak… but it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derf! Keep up the insolence and I'll ask this noble here to melt you!"

"Sounds good to me! I'd like to see you try it! I'm kinda tired of this world. I'd love to be melted down!"

"Fine! Then I'll melt you down!" The shopkeeper approached. But Alex stopped him with one raised hand.

"Over my dead body!" Alex declared as he drew the rust covered blade and gave it a few test swings. "It's a bloody crime that this blade has been allowed to fall into such a state, but look here . . . even though it's covered in rust the blade itself is still sound as the day it was forged. And it's a talking blade as well. Hey, your name is Derf, right?"

"Wrong! It's the great lord Derflinger! Remember that!"

"Interesting," Alex said as he allowed a smile to play across his face. "Well my name is Iskander Mest Babylon, and I find myself in need of a sword. Tell me lord Derflinger; might I be able to interest you in taking that post? It is a virtual crime to leave a sword of your clear calibre to rust in the back corner of a shop like this."

The sword fell silent, and it seemed to closely observe the red haired young man that held it.

"So you came . . . are you a user?"

"I think I know what you mean by that, and I'm pretty sure that the answer is yes. I've also got some other things going for me so I'm pretty sure I can promise you that things aren't going to get boring any time soon."

"Oh, so you know something about your true power then do you? Well, it sounds like working with you might be interesting. Buy me my friend, have your noble throw some money at the rat faced idiot over there, then we can see how good a wielder you are."

"Louise, I think this is the sword that we're looking for."

In response to Alex's declaration the pink haired Vallière looked decidedly reluctant.

"Are you sure you want this thing? It looks like it belongs on a scrap heap more than it does on a battlefield."

"Trust me; I'm sure this is the sword that we were meant to buy. I'll explain why later, now lets just buy it before any problems crop up."

"Well, if you say so . . . but I just want to say that I still don't like it." Louise complained.

"So . . . how much for this one?"

A speculative look had come into the weasel faced merchant's eyes as he had watched the by play between the Summon and his Summoner.

"Well . . . as you can see that sword might be a little on the worn side, but it's still clearly a fine weapon. I couldn't possibly allow it to go for less than . . . one thousand?"

The last part came out as a question rather than a statement; clearly it was an attempt to open up for some negotiation.

"Oi oi, just the other day you were calling me a piece of worthless scrap metal that you'd be willing to **pay** someone to take away." Derflinger spoke up, clearly taking some pleasure in needling the shopkeeper.

"Well, that was then and this is now, and I clearly have some customers that can recognize your true value."

"Well, it is true that I am a sword without peer," Agreed the talkative blade as it suddenly seemed to reverse its previous verbal position, "In fact; don't you think that just a thousand is a bit too cheap? Maybe you should double that just to be safe."

The light of greed was now so bright in the merchant's eyes that Alex thought they could be safely used as night lights by which to read.

"Well Madame? You heard the sword, he should be two thousand really, but since your servant clearly is a man who can appreciate swords I would be willing to part with it for say . . . one thousand four hundred?"

The look on Louise's face was actually kind of funny; it somehow managed to mix outrage, frustration, irritation and a sort of horrified fascination all into a single expression. Still she also seemed to be building up a full head of steam so Alex thought that it was probably a good idea to see about heading her off before she erupted.

"Tell me Louise," he said trying to sound as casual as he could, "Wouldn't it be my civil duty to report any suspicious goings on that I might encounter to the local constabulary?"

"Well . . . yes, that would be your duty as a fami- I mean; as the Summon of a law-abiding noble." His diminutive Summoner seemed a bit confused by the sudden random question.

She'd slipped up there, but her words were more or less what he'd been hoping for. Turning back to the shopkeeper he tried to direct an expression of earnest sincerity towards him.

"I'm sure you understand, this is after all my civic duty. Don't worry though; I'm sure a clearly honest merchant such as yourself will be able to clear up any investigations that are directed towards you with very little difficulty."

The face of the ratty shopkeeper seemed to twitch a few times in a seemingly random way, an eyelid here a corner of the mouth there, before it settled into a look of utterly fake friendly apology.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Did I say one thousand four hundred? I meant four hundred. My apologies, I was still thinking about the more expensive swords and gotten them mixed up."

"That's quite alright," Alex said as he turned back to face Louise, "Now I think that such a sum is far more equitable, after all a good broadsword is about two hundred new gold, and Derflinger is clearly a cut above the rest, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oi, hang on a second! If a good sword is two hundred then I should be worth at least a th-"

Whatever the talking sword had thought that it was worth would be forever lost to the pages of history because at that point the merchant with the rat like face had stuffed the sword into a sheath and handed it to the red clad young man.

"Thank you for your business!" the shopkeeper said with feigned jocularity as he handed over the sword. "If it gets noisy, just shove it back in the scabbard, and it'll shut up."

Louise on the other hand was reaching for her money pouch, but was doing so slowly and casting doubtful glances at the weapon that she was clearly a bit reluctant to pay for.

"Iskander, are you sure this is a good idea? That sword seems a bit . . . weird."

"Trust me Louse," he replied with as much confidence as he could muster, "I'm absolutely sure that despite our first impressions this sword will prove to be well worth the time and money it has taken to acquire it."

His Summoner's expression remained doubtful, but she none the less walked over to the counter and began to count out the agreed upon sum.

"There we go then," the merchant declared as he swept up the coins and deposited them into his own money bag, "The sword is yours, now please get it out of here, the wretched thing's been more trouble than it's worth."

As those words were spoken Alex felt a sudden twinge from the back of his right hand. It wasn't painful in any way; rather it was as though someone had lain something thin and cool against his skin. Glancing down at his hand he saw that the outlined book scars were glowing, however unlike the soft white light on previous occasions this time the scars were shining with a bright red illumination.

That made him blink in surprise. Red? What did that mean? Had something different unlocked? Questions welled up in his mind, but after moment what really concerned him was how he was going to explain this. So far he'd kept the existence of the Book of Seals a secret because even the few pages in it that were accessible held information that could punch holes through the various fabrications that he'd made up in order to explain things to Louise and Siesta.

It wasn't as though he deliberately wanted to lie to them, but if he told them the truth, that he now held the power of what was to him a fictional character . . . Well, it wasn't too far from that to the point where he'd be forced to tell them that to him **they** were fictional characters, and quite frankly that kind of existentialistic confusion wasn't something that he'd be ready to wish onto his most hated enemy.

However despite the light from the scars being bright enough to cast shadows nobody seemed to react to it. Louise was still calmly reattaching her coin bag to her belt and the shopkeeper was just as calmly securing his own cash under the counter top. Neither of them was paying any attention to the new and oddly coloured light source.

Was it . . . that they **couldn't** see it? Was it that only he could see the light? If that was the case then did that mean that the Book was likewise invisible to others? This . . . this was something he needed to investigate later; maybe Siesta would be able to help him. For now he had to show some patience, he'd be able to check what had shown up in his Book later. Just be patient.

. . .

Damn it, he **really** wanted to know what was in that book.

Alex was so fixed on trying to contain his curiosity that he didn't notice Kirche and Tabitha watching them from across the street as he and his Summoner left the shop and began to make their way out of the city.

* * *

-()-

* * *

It was late in the evening now, the sun had set and the moons had come out again. It was a nice clear evening, no clouds in the sky and the atmosphere was temperate.

However despite this Alex was beginning to feel as thought the world in general was out to get him.

He and Louise had returned to the academy some time ago, however despite his best attempts he still hadn't been able to get some time to himself to check out what had been unlocked in the Book. After they had returned his Summoner had insisted upon a few hours of further practice in the use of her explosions. Once that had been over and she'd gone off to take a bath Alex had been all set to find somewhere to do his checking, but every time he tried it was as though someone turned up to interrupt him.

First it had been Guiche who had run into him on the roof of one of the towers. The blond playboy had apparently been planning a romantic meal with Montmorency in an attempt to get back into her good graces. Alex hadn't wanted to disturb them so he'd excused himself and gone off in search of some other out of the way place. However when he'd tried to ensconce himself in an empty classroom he'd run into a somewhat overburdened maid that had been trying to clear all the dirty 'lab coats' in the place up despite already being weighed down by a huge basket of dirty laundry.

Since his conscience wouldn't allow him to do otherwise the new Gandálfr had offered to help her and ended up carrying a couple of baskets of clothes to the laundry before he was able to get away with a clean conscience. After that he'd tried to hide behind one of the sheds on the academy grounds; however that had led to him running into Professor Colbert who had begun to ask him if he could once again take down a copy of the runes on his left hand. Since Alex knew that the fire mage would be the first to realize what those runes meant, even if he couldn't remember just when it was meant to happen, he'd agreed and waited patiently as the teacher had painstakingly copied the symbols that had been burnt onto his left hand.

Once that had been finished with the pseudo Servant had again tried to find some privacy only to run into a beaming Siesta. The pretty maid had told him that Louise had asked her to find him and to tell him that his Summoner was waiting for him back in her room. Honestly it was enough to make him want to break down and cry.

Anyway when he had arrived at the room where he slept at night he'd been surprised to find Kirche and Tabitha there as well. He'd been about to ask why she was there when the red haired fire mage had shoved a cloth wrapped object into his arms while smiling broadly at both him and Louise.

"I heard that Louise had bought you some old and rusted sword, so I decided to get you a proper sword worthy of a great fighter like you!" The crimson haired Germanian mage declared as she turned to look at the youngest Vallière sister with a certain degree of triumphant smugness.

That expression lost a little of its strength when rather than immediately issuing a defensive retort Louise instead smiled rather smugly back at her.

"The sword I might have bought Iskander might be a bit on the scuffed side, but it's still perfectly sound and according to him it was the best weapon available to buy in the whole place." Glancing over at her Summon she saw that he had unwrapped the bundle he'd been given to reveal the golden broadsword that had been on sale at the weapons shop.

"Oh, you got him that sword? I hope you didn't pay too much, my Summon took a look at it and mentioned that even though the gold makes it pretty it also leaves the blade so weak that it can't take a proper blow without snapping."

By the time she finished speaking the pink haired little mage was smiling broadly with glee while Kirche was starting to look a bit on the perturbed side that her gift to the object of her affections was being described as substandard.

"But . . . but I got that sword for my darling Iskander, is it really so worthless?"

"Hah! Just like a useless Zerbst to get a useless sword." Louise declared, clearly enjoying having the advantage over her 'enemy' for once and shamelessly milking it for all it was worth. "Did you simply go in there and ask for the shiniest and most expensive sword they had? You should know that the best blades are often the understated ones."

Okay, now she was pushing it a bit. If Alex remembered right going into the shop and asking for the shiniest and most expensive sword hadn't been too far off from what she'd done in the original storyline. He knew that this sword was largely useless, but on the other hand it was a gift and it was visually pleasing. Maybe he could find some use for it later, as a show piece or-

His thoughts were cut off quite suddenly, because as soon as his hand closed around the hilt the scars on the back of his right hand began to pulse once more with a renewed red light.

He'd noticed earlier that as time had passed the glow of the book on his skin had dulled but not faded. Now that light had flared up once more, not as brightly as it had been when he'd gained ownership of Derflinger, but still quite bright.

Right, this was getting ridiculous. That was not once, but twice that the Book had reacted today and he still hadn't been able to get a good look at it. Glancing up he saw that during his inattention Kirche had managed to retake the initiative and had apparently delivered some cutting remark to his Summoner if the expression of red faced outrage on her face was anything to go by. If he remembered right in the original story things had progressed from here to the point where Saito had ended up being hung from the side of the tower with a rope by Louise and Kirche and used as both the object and prize of a competition. Of course that competition had come to an abrupt end when Fouquet . . . had . . . shown . . .

. . .

He was an idiot.

Honestly, how on Earth had he managed to forget something so important? Okay, granted he wasn't actually **on **Earth anymore, but the principle still applied. This was one of the major events in the plot and he was about to let it slide by because he'd simply let his mind wander? On top of that he hadn't made any plans as to what he was going to do when he did confront the thief, he'd been so distracted with helping Louise then getting Derflinger and then trying to find some alone time that it was like his mind hadn't noticed the time ticking down on him.

Alright, first things first. If his memory served him correctly then tonight Miss Longueville would try to break into the treasure vault of the Academy . . . or had she tried already? Damn it, why couldn't he be in Fate/Stay Night or Bleach? Those plotlines he could practically recite verbatim if he had to. Familiar of Zero was more a series that he'd grown to be familiar with because of a few decent crossover fanfictions that had been written about it, so he'd watched the anime out of an interest to learn more about it. Unfortunately the anime hadn't really been to his taste, though when he'd checked out the translated novels he'd found them to be more to his liking.

The thing was that while he had a general idea of most things, as well as a more specific knowledge of some other points, there were also some pretty large holes in his information, and this event seemed to be one of them.

Now Miss Longueville was meant to try to break into the vault using a golem wasn't she? Or had that been the anime? No, he was pretty sure that she first tried to go the subtle route, then only used the huge golem after a missed spell from Louise had damaged the protection on the vault during her competition with Kirche.

A competition that had started because-

"ISKANDER!"

"DARLING!"

The two shouts at him brought the new Gandálfr out of his thoughts and once more back to the present. Both of the girls were now glaring at him.

"Yes?"

Oh come on, he was easily the most imposing person in this room, so why was he the one that sounded the most nervous?

"Tell Kirche that the sword she got is just gold plated trash!"

"Oh, you wouldn't say that to me would you darling? Surely a gift of love can't be so worthless to you?"

"Hey! Are you calling me a liar?! I was right there when he said that-"

"This is a blade made by Lord Shupei himself, there's no way it could be a worthless as-"

"Hah, like the best of Germania is worth anything in the first place. So what if he-"

"Now hold on Vallière, that's going too far. Lord Shupei discovered many-"

"Yes, and then he ran off to marry a tavern maid if I remember cor-"

It would seem that both the girls had forgotten he was there and had simply gone back to arguing. Oddly enough Alex could feel his earlier nervousness at suddenly being put on the spot beginning to fade to be replaced by irritation.

This . . . this was just so childish of them. Were they both simply going to continue to bicker back and forth like this for the rest of the night? Well he wasn't going to simply stand here all night and listen to them blather on; he had more important things to worry about.

"Ladies, enough!"

He said it as forcefully as he could without raising his voice. As he did so he silently prayed that his Charisma skill would let him pull this off.

"Now Kirche first let me thank you for this gift, the thought is appreciated. Unfortunately I'm afraid that while this is a beautiful sword it isn't the most combat worthy. **However** . . ." he gave that word extra emphasis as he saw his small Summoner about to launch into another verbal attack on her rival, ". . . I am sure that it isn't a useless item by any stretch of the imagination. Now I'm going to go and give both weapons a test run or two, and while I'm doing that I suggest you both try to cool down a bit. Neither of you are bar room wenches, so behaving as you do demeans you both."

Well, that had come out a bit more high handedly than he would have preferred, but at least it seemed to get the message across. Both the girls were now looking somewhat contrite, well Louise was anyway. Kirche on the other hand looked to be more . . . intrigued than anything else.

Alex didn't give either of them any time to recover though; instead he grabbed up both swords and slipped out of the room as quickly as he could.

As he moved through the halls of the academy the pseudo Servant once more marvelled at the power that was now his. Rider had been a powerful Servant, but his Agility had been his weakest physical stat, however even at D rank that was far beyond anything a normal human could manage and right now Alex was proving that as he rushed down the passageways.

It didn't take him long to find the place that he'd been looking for. It was at the top of one of the many towers that made up parts of the academy's outer wall, from it he could observe the central tower that was where the vault was housed to the best of his knowledge. Seating himself on the battlement the new Gandálfr sat himself down to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

After nearly three hours of patient vigil Alex had come to two conclusions. The first was that if Fouquet had come tonight he had missed her, and second that, he was going out of his mind with boredom.

Glancing down he looked at his right hand. The outline of the book still glowed red, but by now that light had faded down to being barely visible. Well, now was as good a time as any to check them, after all he'd more or less managed to completely waste the last few hours.

"Okay. Come on out."

As before the book responded to his will and appeared in his outstretched had. It immediately opened itself and the pages flipped themselves over as they turned to the pages that had been unlocked. Alex noted with interest that the new pages were near the front, right where the description of him as a Servant had been.

When the flipping of paper stopped he found himself staring at a painted picture of Derflinger. In the illustration the sword was cleaned of rust and polished, but despite that there were definite signs of age to the blade such as knicks and scratches. Still Derflinger wore them proudly, like a scarred warrior veteran. The pseudo Servant made a mental note to see about getting the sword cleaned up as soon as possible, then he glanced at the description of his new . . . Noble Phantasm?

**Derflinger:****The****Devourer of Magi**

Type: Anti-Unit Rank: B Range: 1-10 Maximum Number of Targets: 10

_Derflinger is an ancient blade forged and endowed with power by the first Gandálfr. It has been wielded by many over the millennia, but its true power can only be utilized by one possessing the same attributes as its original owner. The sword itself is highly durable and able to clash with higher level weapons and survive. Should this Noble Phantasm be destroyed then the spirit of the sword can be stored in the Gandálfr runes and transferred into another physical form at a later point. This new form will possess all the powers and memories of the old one._

_The Devourer of Magi gains its name from its ability to absorb the willpower within any spell it comes into contact with thus causing the spells to come apart. The speed with which these spells can be drained depends upon the level of the target, but the more power the longer it takes. In practice this means that if a spell is of sufficient level then Derflinger cannot consume it fast enough to dissipate it before it bypasses the sword._

_The willpower that is absorbed can be held in an internal pool and tapped at a later point for a number of effects. The power can be released in time with Derflinger being swung so that an arc of pure force will be projected along the swing's path thus allowing for a ranged attack. Alternately, should the wielder of Derflinger be rendered unconscious, that power well can be completely tapped out to allow the sword to temporarily take control of its wielder's body. While this ability is activated the host will essentially gain the Disengage Skill at B rank._

_It should be noted that Derflinger is incapable of achieving an astralized state and so must be physically carried around._

Huh, an interesting overview of the sword's abilities. Glancing down at the sheathed Derflinger Alex wondered how the sword would take being ranked and described in such a way. Come to think of it hadn't the talking sword been a bit too quiet lately? Looking a bit closer at his new weapon he saw that it was lightly vibrating in its sheath and making a strange sawing noise, like two bits of metal rubbing against each other.

. . . was it . . . snoring?

How on earth could a sword snore? For that matter how could it fall asleep? Of course if you asked those questions then you'd end up having to ask how it talked without a throat or lungs, best just call it all magic and just leave it at that. It was less of a headache that way.

Turning his eyes back to the book the pseudo Servant was surprised to see the page turn itself to reveal . . . was that the sword that Kirche had given him?

The illustration on the page was definitely the golden sword, only now the pinkish jewels on the hilt were a rich blood red and even the yellow gold had taken on a reddish tinge. His brow furrowing in confusion Alex glanced from the picture to the weapon at his side, then his eyes widened in surprise as he saw that the golden sword had changed to match the picture in the book.

When had that happened? Intrigued by this odd occurrence he turned his head to read the description of the sword's abilities.

**Shupei's Deception: A Fiction in Gold**

Type: Support Rank: E Range: 1 Maximum Number of Targets: 1

_This sword is a fragile weapon that will snap if it is struck with a blow of more power than D Rank strength. However if the pieces are held together and Prana is applied then the sword will mend itself._

_Despite being unsuited for combat this sword possesses the ability to project false stats for itself. Any individual who tries to analyse it will see the below stats, or whatever interpretation is suited for their manner of observation._

Type: Anti-Unit/Anti-Army Rank: A+ Range: 1-29 Maximum Number of Targets: 119

_The Prana required for this Noble Phantasm to function is extremely low, sufficiently so that even one with E Rank Mana can sustain it for 24 hours a day if they so choose._

Well . . . that was kind of strange, a Noble Phantasm whose only ability was to look stronger than it actually was? That was a first as far as he could remember.

For a moment Alex considered drawing the swords, trying to see if becoming Noble Phantasms had changed them as much as he thought that it might have. However that thought was derailed by a sudden yawn distracting him.

It was getting pretty late. Lifting up the bracer on his left wrist he saw that his watch was telling him it was almost one o'clock in the morning. Perhaps right now wasn't the best time to be analysing and experimenting with his new assets, plenty of time for that tomorrow after a good night's sleep. Especially given the fact that A Rank Endurance didn't mean that he could go without sleep it seemed.


End file.
